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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164171">Ivy-Framed Windows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookies_and_Chaos/pseuds/Cookies_and_Chaos'>Cookies_and_Chaos</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Cold Case Season 8 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cold Case</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Case Fic, Childhood Trauma, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Police corruption, Suicide</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:42:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookies_and_Chaos/pseuds/Cookies_and_Chaos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After decades of suppressing painful and traumatic memories, a man goes to Lilly and the team to report his memories of a death that was recorded as a suicide in a boarding school in 1968. Faced with closed doors and stony silence, the team have their work cut out for them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Cold Case Season 8 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Whole fic content warning: Police corruption and associated acts, presumed suicide, child death, child abuse and non-consensual sexual acts and rape. </p><p>These will not be described in explicit details but warnings will be provided in individual chapters including, where possible, paragraphs that can be skipped.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In this section, to avoid reading a reference to child death, stop reading after the line that starts "Not a clue, say if Jason's left..."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>12th January 1968</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Pictures of Matchstick Men - Status Quo</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The familiar bellows of the prefects echoed over Aubrey and Navjot's heads.</p><p>"Stop running in the halls"</p><p>"Are you snivelling again Taylor? Thought you'd grown out of that last term"</p><p>"What are you looking at Chadha, nothing better to do?" that one was directed at Navjot and he looked away before the prefect decided to do something more than shout.</p><p>"I did not miss this place," Navjot sighed as he dragged his case behind him. It was only his second term at St Benedict's and as far as he was concerned, it was already a term too many. His father had said that plenty of boys went away to boarding school at 11 and got on just fine. Navjot didn't think he was to be one of those boys.</p><p>"There's Bradley," Aubrey nudged him and pointed out the older boy. Bradley was three years senior to them but known by every boy in the school courtesy of his prowess at almost any sport he turned his hand too. Which would have been enough to get his name known but he was also highly regarded for being one of the few boys happy to help train the younger boys.</p><p>"Bradley!" Aubrey shouted and waved but Bradley didn't seem to hear them and began to head upstairs.</p><p>"Come on," Aubrey pulled Navjot by his arm and they raced after Bradley. Except he seemed to have completely vanished by the time they got up to the floor with all the dorms.</p><p>Aubrey looked around, "Where's he<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>Navjot nudged him in the side and hushed him. They listened and followed the low murmur of voice from a little further down the hall. As they reached the corner, they recognised the voices as Bradley and Mr Portmaine, their English teacher.</p><p>"<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>my services to tutor you in English," Mr Portmaine was saying.</p><p>"I think I've improved over the hols, sir, so it might not be necessary," Bradley said.</p><p>"Nonsense, I don't mind at all," Mr Portmaine insisted, "Can't have you missing out on chances because your English grades let you down."</p><p>"I thought Mr Barnes said<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>"Mr Barnes doesn't see past this place. So first session will be on Thursday afternoon, I look forward to seeing you," Mr Portmaine spoke as though there were no more to discuss and his footsteps faded off into the opposite direction.</p><p>Aubrey waved for he and Navjot to sneak back to their dorm instead of speaking to Bradley.</p><p>"What do you think that was about?" Aubrey asked once they were unpacking their trunks. </p><p>"Not a clue, say if Jason's left does that mean I won't need to sleep next to the window anymore?" Navjot asked.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>4th April 1968</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"What's going on?" Aubrey asked as Mr Barnes locked the door behind him, locking the entire first form in their dorms. They could all hear utter chaos breaking loose outside and the boys looked to each other for answers, even though none of them could possibly have any.</p><p>Then the door opened against and Timothy Beaumonte was unceremoniously shoved inside so hard that he stumbled and fell onto the nearest bed. As the door locked behind him, he bounced back to his feet, his face animated in knowledge and fear. The other boys knew he had answers and information for them. Timothy had an uncanny ability to be able to slip out of anywhere and find out things he shouldn't do, much to the boys' delight and the teachers' despair.</p><p>"Go on then, what's going on?" Pavel asked as they crowded around Timothy.</p><p>"It's Bradley," Timothy whispered, his face going awfully pale and gaunt as he spoke. "They found him in the showers."</p><p>"Found him doing what?" Aubrey asked and he and Navjot both shivered when Timothy looked at them, the horror in his eyes was so tangible.</p><p>"They're saying he hung himself," Timothy said, "Bradley's dead..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please click the link below or press 'End' to read the Content Warnings.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Chris! I've got to go, that's Frannie outside," Lilly called through to her sister.</p><p>"Already? I was hoping we could have breakfast," Christina hurried into the front room, her baby daughter, Isabella, cradled in her arms and she took in the food on the table. "You made me breakfast? Lil..."</p><p>"We'll have dinner, I promise," Lilly grabbed her coat and pulled it on.</p><p>"Unless you have a new case," Christina pointed out. She gently bounced Isabella in one arm while snatching up a croissant with her free hand.</p><p>"<em>Even</em> if I have a case," Lilly promised, "I'll call you."</p><p>Lilly rushed outside into the rain, Christina's goodbye - slightly muffled by croissant - behind her, and ran the short distance to where Frannie, the medical examiner, was waiting.</p><p>"Thanks again," Lilly got into the passenger's seat. "My car's in the garage for at least another day, maybe two."</p><p>"No problem, we're both going to the same place," Frannie said.</p><p>Normally Lilly would have gotten a ride in with Scotty or Kat, but things with Scotty had been strained recently and Kat was staying at her parents while work was done on her apartment so Lilly didn't want to inconvenience her with an extra half-hour drive. Public transport was a nightmare with the weather they were having but Lilly had resigned herself to that when Frannie overheard her say as much to Vera on the way out of homicide the previous day and had casually offered her a lift.</p><p>"How's the shooting case from last week going?" Frannie asked suddenly and Lilly frowned. The Medical Examiner was well known for her clear separation between her role and the detectives' role, usually wanting little or no information from the case itself.</p><p>"Few false starts but we've got some traction now," Lilly replied.</p><p>"Bothered me more than usual, that one," Frannie said, "He was just so <em>young.</em>"</p><p>Lilly could only agree, thinking of the thirteen-year-old and his last moments before finally succumbing to his injuries on the surgeon's table. She was grateful when Frannie turned the radio on for the rest of the drive.</p><p>They parted ways at the station to their respective departments. Lilly rode the elevator up and nodded to the sole detective in the corridor as she headed to the lockers.</p><p>"Excuse me, are you Detective Rush?" the man waiting at the front of homicide approached her and asked. A tall man with brown skin, he looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, and his black hair was greying at the temples.</p><p>"That's me, what can I do for you?" Lilly finished putting her belongings into her locker and then locked it up.</p><p>"My name's Navjot Chadha and I was told you're the person here to talk to about old crimes. Old murders," the man introduced himself. </p><p>"That's right, shall we sit down?" Lilly gestured towards her desk and then led the way. Navjot started speaking again whilst he was sitting down.</p><p>"In the late 60s, my parents sent me to boarding school," Navjot explained, taking a few things out of the folder he had in his hands. He pushed a photograph across the table to Lilly and she grinned when she spotted the young Navjot in the front row.</p><p>"I didn't want to go and I wanted to go back even less after one term there," Navjot explained, "I eventually convinced my parents not to make me go back halfway into my second year."</p><p>"Lots of stories coming out about what really happened <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> happens <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> in some boarding schools," Lilly prompted gently.</p><p>"They weren't experiences I wanted to remember personally," Navjot's expression turned grim, "and for a good long time, I kept them buried. The memories I mean. I started therapy a few months ago and, well, I turned 54 on my last birthday, you see, and realised that while I was a good father and grandfather, I always kept a distance from people. I didn't want to spend the next twenty or thirty years doing the same."</p><p>"And part of that was pulling out these old memories," Lilly supplied, thinking of her own therapy sessions and wondering if perhaps she should give them another go after all that had happened recently.</p><p>"Exactly, including some buried so deeply I only had the vaguest recall of them ever happening," Navjot sighed and handed Lilly an old newspaper article. "In my second term, an older boy, Bradley Clement, was found hanging in the shower room."</p><p>Lilly scanned the article quickly, brief best described it, and left Navjot quiet to fill.</p><p>"During my therapy sessions, I began to remember more and more from St Benedict's. Including a few things that make me wonder whether Bradley committed suicide."</p><p>"I can't really reopen a forty-odd-year-old case because of recovered memories and doubts," Lilly said carefully, "why don't you give me a bit more about what you remember?"</p><p>"You said you've read the stories about boarding schools," Navjot began to roll the piece of paper in his hands between his forefinger and thumbs. "During therapy, I remembered certain things that happened, sometimes to me but mostly to other boys there. It didn't happen as much to the first formers, the physical things I mean. In first form they-they..." Navjot sighed and ran one hand through his hair a few times before continuing. "Nowadays we call it grooming. That's what happened in the first year. Second year and older was when it got worse."</p><p>"I'm sorry that happened to you," Lilly said gently.</p><p>"I never told my parents what really happened, why I hated that school so much. My father died a few years back and my mother is alive and well but I couldn't burden her with that," Navjot sighed. "Sorry, I'm getting off track. Let me tell you about Bradley..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>March 25th 1968</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix<br/></em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Where <em>are</em> your shorts?" Mr Turner demanded, towering over Navjot. The sports coach had to be about six and a half foot tall but to Navjot, tiny for his 11 years, he might as well have been a giant and right now Navjot wasn't sure if he was the sort of giant to stomp on under-prepared schoolboys.</p><p>"I-I-I think they're in my dorm, Sir," Navjot said, standing as tall as he could.</p><p>"What good are they there? Go and get them," and Mr Turner clipped Navjot on the back of the head as he turned, hard enough to sting.</p><p>Aubrey offered Navjot a weak smile as he raced out of the room, no-one was in for a good time when Mr Turner was in one of these moods. Navjot ran down the corridor, slowing down every so often to make sure a teacher wasn't about to leap out and berate him for running in the hallway. Then he took the stairs two at a time up to the dorms and ran into his dorm. As he rummaged under the bed, pushing aside the steadily growing collection of clothes and belongings that he would need to tidy soon or risk getting punished on next dorm inspection, there was the sound of a door slamming and he froze.</p><p>"Mister Clements!" the booming voice of Mr Portmaine carried down the hall and Navjot froze.</p><p>"It doesn't matter," Bradley called back, had he been crying? It sounded like he had and Navjot couldn't quite get his head around the idea of the older boy in tears. Then Navjot spotted his shorts and reached further under the bed to get them.</p><p>"Stay where you are," that was a command that no boy would dare refuse from a teacher and Navjot felt even sorrier for Bradley. Then he realised that Bradley had stopped just outside his dorm. Not sure what prompted him to so, Navjot crawled under the bed and lay very still.</p><p>"In here," and at the moment, the door to their dorm opened and Bradley and Mr Portmaine marched in. Navjot held his breath.</p><p>"I've told you, sir, I needed to stop the tutoring. Does it matter why?" Bradley asked.</p><p>"But you were making such improvements..." Mr Portmaine started. "Is this because of<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>"I don't want to talk about it," Bradley snapped and Navjot covered his mouth so he didn't squeak in surprise at Bradley being so defiant to a teacher.</p><p>"I'm only trying to help you, you know that Bradley," Mr Portmaine tried again.</p><p>"The other teachers talk about you, did you know that?" Bradley demanded, "They're not shy about it, even say it in front of all of us. Why don't you find another boy who wants this extra attention, because I <em>don't."</em></p><p>Navjot expected Mr Portmaine to lose his temper at that so the defeated sigh confused Navjot even more than this whole situation had already.</p><p>"I suppose I can't force you to. Very well," Mr Portmaine said, "You'll have a free lesson now then Bradley. I won't give up, you know that right?"</p><p>Bradley didn't reply and when the cool silence had trickled on for long enough that Navjot wondered whether he should leap out just to break the tension <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> and no doubt end up with punishments until the end of the first form <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> Mr Portmaine walked out of the dorm, letting the door fall shut behind him. Bradley stood in the centre of the dorm for another minute before he left as well. Navjot crawled back out, shorts clutched firmly in his hand and made himself count to twenty before heading out of the dorms too and running back down to rejoin his class.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"I didn't know what a conversation like that between a student and a teacher could mean back then. Couldn't imagine something so awful was going on," Navjot said, "So I never told anyone."</p><p>"You were only 11, you didn't do anything wrong," Lilly said, "When was this?"</p><p>"Just over a week before Bradley died. I remember because we had half-term that weekend when our parents came up to see us, if they could," Navjot explained. "Mine couldn't so I went out with Aubrey <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> my best friend <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> and his family. Then Bradley died on the Thursday after half-term."</p><p>"It's not very much to go on, I'm afraid," Lilly admitted, thinking of the constant barrage of orders that they only dedicate resources to reopening cold cases where there was new evidence. They had been allowed leniency over the years but that leniency was fast coming to an end.</p><p>"I know, there's one more thing and I don't know if it's enough either," Navjot said, "The teacher, Mr Portmaine, I learnt that he was fired from St Benedict's a year after I left and he was never able to find another teaching job again. I thought that was odd, he wasn't an elderly teacher who would have retired. Maybe I'm wrong and Bradley did kill himself but I just needed to tell someone."</p><p>Lilly glanced at Stillman, head bowed over paperwork in his office, and that same voice about allocating resources came back to her. Even so, she found herself saying,</p><p>"Even if he did, maybe there was someone who pushed him to that point," Lilly said, "I can't make any promises but I'll pull the case and I'll look into incidents involving the school and its teachers that have surfaced since 1968."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Content Warnings: References to abuse and grooming, one instance of a child being struck by an adult, discussions of child suicide.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Will's footsteps echoed down the stacks in the cold case room and Lilly smiled as he stopped alongside her.</p><p>"Thought I saw you sneak off down here," Will said.</p><p>"I was hardly sneaking," Lilly replied, though she would admit that she had chosen her moment carefully so that as few people as possible would see her leave.</p><p>"New lead on a cold one?" Will asked, holding his hand out for the file and Lilly handed it to him.</p><p>"No. Just traumatised memories from a man who spent time at boarding school," Lilly explained, "and I know I shouldn't be spending time on a case without a lead but there's been so much in the news lately about what happens in some of these schools."</p><p>"Sometimes even when there's nothing new, cases just deserve a second look," Will agreed, carefully leafing through the case notes, "Doesn't look like they spent much time on this one..."</p><p>"Back then, wasn't always much to be done I suppose. If it looked like suicide, they usually chalked it up to suicide," Lilly said absentmindedly as she fanned the photographs out on the trolley, "Does this look a bit unusual to you?"</p><p>Will looked at the photographs taken by the medical examiner at the time.</p><p>"Bruising looks different to what you'd expect," Will spoke slowly, "but I couldn't put an explanation to it."</p><p>"Think I can get away with running these by Frannie?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"I think you can always act like you're sorry later when you get called on it," Will said, "Come on, I was looking for you to run down a witness from the shooting last week. We can drop the photos and file off with Frannie before we go."</p><p>When Lilly sidled up to Frannie's desk and slid the file onto the corner, Frannie looked up and sighed good-naturedly, "Do someone one favour and they start expecting more."</p><p>"Only when you have time, it's a cold job and I don't really have an angle," Lilly said, "No tests, just an experienced eye..."</p><p>Frannie looked at the file and Lilly knew the medical examiner would be thinking that she should say no.</p><p>"Vic?" Frannie asked.</p><p>"Fourteen year old boy, presumed suicide in a boarding school," Lilly said.</p><p>"I don't know when I'll have time but leave it with me," Frannie said and Lilly smiled her thanks.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The witness ended up being more useful than their original phone call had suggested and as they left the apartment, Will called in the information to Vera to start chasing up.</p><p>"How's he doing?" Lilly asked as they started their way back down the stairs, neither of them willing to risk the tiny excuse of an elevator.</p><p>"Hard to say. Doesn't say much either way," Will said. "Since we're asking, you and Valens sorted out your differences?"</p><p>Lilly sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets, "Not yet. There's a lot on his mind and the changes around here aren't helping what with the boss assigning us to different cases all the time."</p><p>"With Doherty gone, we'll be in for more," Will warned. "Been thinking of making some changes myself."</p><p>Lilly did a double take, "You talking retirement?"</p><p>Will chuckled at her surprise, "You're acting like I'm not getting to that age, but no, not completely. Thinking of going down to part time."</p><p>Will wasn't typically so candid so Lilly kept her mouth shut so she didn't inadvertently shut down what he had to say.</p><p>"Closing Wanda's case got me thinking. About how I want to keep bringing closure to people but also to spend more time doing other things with the people that matter to me," Will explained, "and the part time offer is on the table so it seems like the right time."</p><p>"I'm happy for you," Lilly said and Will chuckled again.</p><p>"Haven't finalised it yet so if you don't mind keeping it to yourself," he said.</p><p>Lilly assured him that she would and pushed the door open so they could step out into the street. Her phone rang as they walked back to the car and she glanced at the screen as she answered.</p><p>"Hey boss"</p><p>"You and Will on your way back?" Stillman asked and when Lilly confirmed they were, he continued, "Come find me when you're back."</p><p>Lilly was about to ask for some details but Stillman said goodbye and hung up before she could. She frowned as she pocketed the phone and wondered whether this was another set of changes about to unfold.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please click the link below or press 'End' on your keyboard for content warnings.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly was at the door to Stillman's office when Frannie caught up with her.</p><p>"Got some free time sooner than I thought," Frannie said, though Lilly knew that was a downright lie. Frannie never <em>had</em> free time, she made it.</p><p>"Frannie," Stillman opened the door. "Didn't think we were expecting any results."</p><p>Frannie glanced at Lilly for guidance so she fessed up.</p><p>"I asked Frannie to look at some photographs. I know what the requirement is for opening cold cases so I did a brief review," Lilly explained quickly.</p><p>Stillman nodded and gestured them both into his office, "Let's hear about it then."</p><p>"Well, let's just say it was a reminder how far the field of forensics has come, even in reviewing photographic evidence," Frannie handed over the file to Stillman, "Today that death would never have been ruled a straight-forward suicide."</p><p>"So it was murder?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"I can't say for definite on just photographs, you know that Lil. But the bruising under the ligature marks means it's possible, maybe even likely," Frannie pointed to the photographs and to the bruising in question. "It looks like that bruising was there before the ligature bruising and it doesn't match the size of the rope."</p><p>"Any idea what they are?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"I couldn't say for sure, not from just photographs," Frannie said firmly.</p><p>"Could it be manual strangulation?" Lilly pushed, "Hands?"</p><p>Frannie hesitated and looked at the photograph again, "The <em>most</em> I'll give you is that I wouldn't rule it out."</p><p>"Thank you," Lilly said, knowing that she had already pushed the medical examiner to as far as she would be willing to go in regards to speculation.</p><p>"No problem, I'm leaving at five if you need a lift, by the way," Frannie offered on her way back out of the office.</p><p>"I'd say this counts as a new lead," Stillman said and he glanced at the board outside the office, "Will can work this one with you."</p><p>"Boss, about this new<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>Stillman waved for her to sit down and she did while Stillman took his seat behind the desk.</p><p>"That's why I called you in here," Stillman said, "I've heard talk about the Deputy Commissioners all being replaced in the next few weeks, there's going to be changes not just in homicide but the whole force."</p><p>"Got to make sure we're being assigned effectively?" Lilly asked, hoping she kept the bitterness out of her voice at the implication her own words conjured up.</p><p>"Lot of things went down these past two years. Just working towards getting everything clean and above board, checking out a few untangling ends is all," Stillman said vaguely. Lilly knew what he was referring to all the same and the thought of how she had contributed to those untangling ends made her uncomfortable. Stillman didn't dwell on it though and moved straight on to the other point he had to make.</p><p>"You and Scotty, there's some issues there," it sounded like a question so Lilly offered an answer.</p><p>"Maybe a few but it's not going anywhere if we keep having to work apart," Lilly pointed out.</p><p>"Maybe I need you two to work on your own issues before you work on your interpersonal ones," Stillman spoke slowly and Lilly wondered just how much he knew about how things had been going off the rails recently. "So we're going to be working differently going forward. If you need extra manpower, we can work something out, but for now this is how we're running." Stillman nodded to let Lilly know they were done and she got up.</p><p>"Should we be worried, boss?" Lilly asked, pausing when she reached the door.</p><p>Stillman looked off ahead and pursed his lips for a moment, "No, I think if we get this right Lil, things will be much better. Just got to trust me and play the long game."</p><p>"Alright," Lilly agreed and went out to find Will.</p><p>Will was in an interview with Vera and another witness to the shooting so Lilly did a quick search for a Mr Portmaine who worked at St Benedict's in the sixties. Records from that far back could be shakey at the best of times, subject to what was made available, and she came up empty on an identity for Mr Portmaine. She did find a news story about the school doctor <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> Bernard Hall <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> being honoured at an event the previous year for his retirement and forty-five years of service to the school. If anyone would have seen the inner workings of St Benedict's, it was him. And while 1968 was right at the beginning of his long career at the school, Lilly had to figure that a supposed suicide would have been a horribly memorable event for anyone.</p><p>Lilly was searching for a next of kin for Bradley when Will joined her.</p><p>"Looks like you begged for forgiveness just fine," Will said, leaning on the desk beside Lilly.</p><p>"Frannie doesn't think it was a suicide," Lilly said, then corrected herself, "Well, Frannie thinks it wouldn't have been so easily ruled a suicide today, at any rate."</p><p>"Was gonna say that I didn't think Frannie would be so definitive over a photograph," Will chuckled, "Hear I'm working this one with you?"</p><p>"Yeah, the boss has some kind of plan in motion and this new way of working is part of it," Lilly wrote down the details of Bradley's parents and switched pages to do a search for their current locations. "Did you hear that they might be sweeping all the Deputy Commissioners?"</p><p>"Not a surprise, what with the stuff Doherty was doing and getting away with, makes sense they'd want a clean start," Will said. "Looks like Bradley's father died ten years ago, heart attack. Mother's still around though, up near Morris Park. You sure you want to go speak to her first?"</p><p>Lilly shook her head, "I want to talk to the old doctor for the school first, Bernard Hall," and she handed Will his details. Usually the victim's family would be the first port-of-call, even if just a courtesy to let them know they were re-opening the case. But the suicide of a child was such a painful topic that Lilly wanted to be a bit surer of the ground she was treading before she tore that particular wound open again after forty-three years.</p><p>"Bradley died just when he was starting out, fair to say he'd remember it," Will agreed.</p><p>"I want to know if he remembers this Mr Portmaine as well," Lilly stood up and grabbed her coat from the back of her chair. "See if there was something going on that the school covered up. Come on, we're taking your car."</p><p>"Fine by me, but I'm driving."</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>"Mr Hall? Doctor Bernard Hall?" Lilly asked of the man who opened the door just a crack to see them, "Detectives Rush and Jeffries."</p><p>Bernard Hall eyed them suspiciously, "What's this about?"</p><p>"We're looking into a death that occurred at St Benedict's, could we come in?" Lilly asked. The rain had only gotten heavier since they set off and they were both half-drenched.</p><p>The door shut and Lilly and Will glanced at each other, unsure if that was Bernard unlocking the door or saying no. They got their answer when the door swung open and he gestured them inside.</p><p>"Only in the hallway," he snapped, "Can't have you dripping through the house. Now, what did you want to know about Tobias?"</p><p>Lilly paused mid-way through reaching for Bradley's photograph in her inside pocket, "Tobias?"</p><p>"Yes, yes. Tobias Lehmann. You said you were here about his death," Bernard said, scowling at the droplets of water coming off their coats.</p><p>"We said we were here about a death, Mr Hall," Lilly took Bradley's photograph out and held it up, "But not Tobias Lehmann. Bradley<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>"Clement. My word..." Bernard went very quiet and reached out a shaking hand to take the photograph. Lilly swore his expression softened and the hard impatience flittered away when he spoke next, "Yes, of course. That poor boy. He killed himself, though. What more is there to say?"</p><p>"We've had some new information that makes us wonder whether it was so straight-forward," Lilly said vaguely. "Do you remember Bradley?"</p><p>"It's been over forty years," Bernard evaded, "but everyone would remember the suicide, of course."</p><p>"Anything at all would be helpful?" Lilly prodded.</p><p>"Sorry, so many boys over the years. Only certain events stand out," Bernard said.</p><p>"Do you know the first name of a teacher around the same time as Bradley died, Mr Portmaine?" Will asked.</p><p>There was a moment of silence, then Bernard went stiff and tightened his lips for a few seconds, no doubt once the name connected with a memory. Bernard seemed to realise that with his reaction he wouldn't be able to deny knowing of him, "Yes. Jack Portmaine."</p><p>After a few uncomfortable seconds, Will asked, "Remember anything about him?"</p><p>"Not really. He didn't last long at the school, that's all," Bernard looked very pointedly at his watch. "If that's all, I must be getting on."</p><p>"Just one more thing," Lilly said. "Tobias Lehmann. Why did you think we were here to talk about him?"</p><p>Bernard looked at his watch again, Lilly suspected as a stalling method this time, and said, "You said it was about a death. Tobias's death was more recent than Bradley's and I assumed. That's all."</p><p>It was apparent they weren't going to get much more out of the increasingly uncooperative man so Lilly thanked him and she and Will rushed back out into the rain and to Will's car.</p><p>"He sure acted strangely for a man who doesn't know anything about anyone," Will started the car. "I think it's worth checking into what happened to Tobias Lehmann as well, just in case."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Content Warning: </p><p>Discussions about bruises in relation to suicide/homicide determination.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy Halloween everyone.</p><p>Content Warning: Some non-graphic discussion of autopsy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly read what Will had found over his shoulder. "Twelve years ago? So why did it sound like Hill was expecting someone to turn up and ask about Tobias?"</p><p>"Guilty conscience maybe?" Will suggested. "If something was <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> is <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span> going on at that school, abuse of any sort, the school doctor would have known or at least suspected, no two ways about it. Maybe with all that's been in the news recently, he was already on edge."</p><p>Lilly carried on reading. Tobias Lehmann was a senior student who had been found in the Schuylkill River in January 1999 and pulled out by two workmen walking home from an overnight shift. The medical examiner estimated that he had been dead for between four and eight hours by the time he was pulled out, though the cold weather and water had complicated his estimate. The medical examiner had also found diazepam and alcohol in Tobias's system, enough to have impaired him, and the manner of death was officially noted as 'Accident'. The school were unable to offer any explanation for why one of their students was off campus.</p><p>"I could understand a student bringing alcohol into a boarding school," Lilly said slowly, "but diazepam? Did he have a prescription for it?"</p><p>Will did a few more searches and came up empty. "Nothing on file, doesn't mean he didn't get it from somewhere else himself."</p><p>"Who was the M.E?" Lilly asked, "Erroll Coleman, he's retired now but I think he's still in Philly, I'll see if I can find out where."</p><p>"I'll see if I can track down Jack Portmaine," Will said.</p><p>Lilly made her way back to the medical examiner's office, figuring it for the best place to chase down a current number for Erroll. Frannie was typing up some notes when Lilly arrived and she raised an eyebrow. "I don't see you for days on end and then three times in one day?"</p><p>"Technically four since you should count you coming to find me as one." Lilly grinned and counted it as a win when Frannie smirked. "Do you know if anyone here has an up to date number for Erroll Coleman?"</p><p>"There's a card pinned to the notice board from him, should be in there," Frannie said, returning her attention to her work. It didn't seem to occur to her to ask why.</p><p>Lilly opened the card on the notice board and, sure enough, Erroll had included his mobile number for anyone who wanted to stay in touch. She saved it to her phone and then turned to thank Frannie, saw she was engrossed in her work again and thought better of it. As soon as she was back at her desk, Lilly dialled Erroll's number. He answered almost immediately.</p><p>"Erroll speaking"</p><p>"Hi, Mr Coleman, my name's Lilly Rush and I'm calling from Philadelphia Homicide<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span>"</p><p>There was a warm chuckle on the other end of the phone. "I know who you are Rush, you're the one who likes closing the cold cases. You were at an autopsy of mine years back, just after you joined homicide."</p><p>"Liam Bosquez-Coca, I remember," Lilly said, remembering being surprised at how sensitive and considerate the medical examiner's team were. Detectives and police all had comments about the sorts of people who chose to spend their time working on dead bodies but when she stood watching Erroll Coleman work with such delicacy and compassion, she realised she had been sucked into the same machine of stereotypes and misjudgment when she of all people should have known better.</p><p>"Did they ever close that case?" Erroll asked and Lilly's heart sank.</p><p>"No, it went cold a few months in," she said.</p><p>"Maybe one for you now, a more experienced eye might reveal a few things," Erroll suggested.</p><p>"Maybe so. I'm actually calling about another case," Lilly said and her words prompted another laugh.</p><p>"I figured it wasn't a social call, which case was it?" Erroll asked.</p><p>"Tobias Lehmann," Lilly said and waited a moment to see if Erroll recognised the name. </p><p>"Lehmann... Young man pulled out of the Schuykill in ninety-nine? Went to that expensive boarding school, Saint Benedicts, right?" Erroll asked and then he breathed out slowly. "I remember that one well."</p><p>Something about his tone made Lilly want to ask more questions, sensing there was an untold story there, but at the same time the phone didn't seem the right place to have the discussion.</p><p>"Could we meet to discuss the case?" she asked.</p><p>"I was about to say face-to-face would be better," Erroll agreed, "If you can get here for two this afternoon?"</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Will had a meeting with Stillman, to discuss the new part-time position Lilly suspected, so she went alone to Coleman's house. Erroll opened the door while she was still walking up the path and greeted her.</p><p>"I've made some tea and my granddaughter was over yesterday and we made cookies, help yourself," Erroll welcomed her into the living room and then settled down on his armchair and took a cookie himself. "They're pretty good."</p><p>Lilly took one and had a bite; she had to agree, they were good. After a minute of polite conversation, Erroll lent forward.</p><p>"It's all these stories about the abuse in boarding schools, isn't it?" Erroll asked, "That's how Tobias' case came up?"</p><p>"Kind of," Lilly said, "We're reopening a much older death at the school, a suicide in sixty-eight and Tobias's name came up when we interviewed the school doctor. His death went down as an accident?"</p><p>Erroll breathed out slowly and took a sip of tea, "Yes, though to this day part of me still wonder if it was."</p><p>"How come?", Lilly asked, taking another cookie.</p><p>"You know those cases where accident seems the most likely but you could make an argument for suicide and part of you even wonders if someone else was involved?" Erroll asked. "Tobias's case was like that for me. I held off giving a manner of death for as long as possible, just to see if I could find more evidence, eventually I had to make a choice."</p><p>"Why accident and not undetermined?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Honestly? His poor parents. I had a little to point to and argue for suicide and no definitive evidence that someone else was involved, I thought accident would hurt them the least." Erroll sighed. "I don't know if doing that was the wrong thing or not."</p><p>"Talk me through the evidence?" Lilly asked gently and Erroll did, first explaining his overall findings and then finishing with some of the more in-depth details.</p><p>"Certainly sounds like an accident," Lilly agreed, "What gave you doubts?"</p><p>"The amount of diazepam and alcohol, for one," Erroll said, "there was enough there that I wondered if Tobias had intentionally taken too much. That and some older scars, particularly ones on his arms."</p><p>"Self-harm?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"It looked like a strong possibility," Erroll agreed. "They were healed up but, like I said, one of those cases. There was nothing to suggest long term drug or alcohol abuse and no markers of stress, nail biting or teeth grinding, you sometimes see those in victims of suicide. Of course, everyone is different so that wasn't a big surprise."</p><p>"What made you wonder if someone else was involved?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Nothing physical, that was all just..." Erroll sighed. "Extraneous variables. While I was deciding on the manner of death, someone from the school called the Mayor and complained about me dragging my feet on a decision. That and one of the detectives complained about how unhelpful the school were. You must have had cases like that, I'm sure. Where they're so evasive and unhelpful that you can't help but wonder what they're hiding?"</p><p>Lilly told him she knew exactly what he meant. Erroll didn't have a lot more information about the case and Lilly could understand why, on balance, he had put down accident. She stayed a little longer, just to talk to the older man, and then made her way back to homicide.</p><p>Will was packing up when she got back, "Found Jack Portmaine," he said, holding up a piece of paper with the address on. "You want to go out and speak to him first thing tomorrow?"</p><p>"Sure, I won't have my car back yet so can you pick me up on the way?" Lilly asked, checking the address.</p><p>They arranged a collection point so Will could try and avoid getting caught up in too much traffic. Will headed off and Lilly typed up her notes until it was time to meet Frannie. They hadn't agreed on where to meet so Lilly decided waiting in reception was the best option. Frannie arrived a few minutes after her and Lilly followed her out to her car.</p><p>Heavy traffic locked down the roads at this time of night and as they drove slowly, Lilly wondered why so many places had their employees work nine to five. Surely it would free up the roads and reduce pollution if they staggered their working hours more. That said, it was a rarity for her to be finishing around five so she wasn't usually privvy to the congestion. A loud, jaunty tone broke the quiet in the car and Lilly looked away from the window.</p><p>Frannie glanced at the phone ringing and hesitated, then asked, "Would you answer that? Explain that I'm driving."</p><p>Lilly got the phone out of the central compartment and answered it, "Frannie's phone, she's driving at the moment."</p><p>There was a moment of silence, the understandable confusion when someone completely unexpected answered the phone.</p><p>"Oh, can you tell her it's Jiang?" the woman on the phone asked.</p><p>Lilly repeated the message to Frannie who gestured for Lilly to hold the phone to her ear. Lilly did her best not to listen but it was almost impossible when she was a part of the practical means of the conversation taking place and they were in a car.</p><p>"Sure," Frannie said, "The pharmacy just off of Fifth? Alright, yes. I'll see you soon," Frannie cleared her throat and murmured, "Love you too. Bye."</p><p>Frannie nodded sharply and Lilly took the phone back and hung up, "Thanks. I need to go by the pharmacy before dropping you off."</p><p>"Sure," Lilly said, "I can walk from there actually, it's only a block. Means you can just head straight through rather than going off route to drop me off."</p><p>Lilly didn't know if she should say anything about the phone call. Sometimes she wondered whether she had spent so many years around ghosts that she didn't really know how to make conversation with the living anymore. It was okay with the team, they were used to her oddities or the occasional social misstep. She didn't know Frannie well enough to know whether she should just give Frannie some indication that she wasn't<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">—</span></span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="hgKElc">"Jiang's my partner," Frannie made the decision for her. "I don't talk about her because I know what the department is like."<br/>
</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="hgKElc">"You don't know me well enough for me to be expecting to know any of your personal business," Lilly said, "but I'm glad you told me."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="hgKElc">"You sure about walking from here?" Frannie pulled into a parking space outside the pharmacy, "And do you need a lift tomorrow?"</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="hgKElc">"I'm sure and thanks but no, Will and I have an early interview with a possible suspect tomorrow," Lilly unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, "Thanks again."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd">
    <span class="hgKElc">As Lilly walked the short distance home, she felt a dull ache as she wondered how many other people in the department hid parts of themselves away because of — as Frannie had put it — "what the department was like".</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd">
    <span class="hgKElc">Try as she might, adding it to the unease already settled on her mind over the corruption and uncoming changes, Lilly couldn't keep the darker thoughts about the department from occupying her that evening.</span>
  </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning: Non-explicit discussions of child suicide. Non-explicit references to child abuse (physical and sexual).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Detectives Jeffries and Rush, Philly Homicide" Will held up his ID as he introduced them, "Jack Portmaine?"</p><p>The man at the doorstep looked at the ID, then looked between Will and Lilly, before finally the words sunk in and he nodded.</p><p>"That's me. You said homicide? What's happened? Is it one of the kids?" The sudden spike in panic was a familiar reaction and Will quickly moved into reassurance.</p><p>"Nothing like that, didn't mean to alarm you. It's an old case we're looking into. Can we come in?" </p><p>Jack softened with relief and he opened the door wider. "Of course, in you come. Tea? Coffee?"</p><p>The detectives declined his offer politely and went into the living room to sit.</p><p>"An old case, you say?" Jack asked, lowering himself stiffly into the armchair.</p><p>Will took out his notebook. "Young man who committed suicide at a school you worked at back in the—"</p><p>"Bradley Clements? Someone's finally looking into his death?" Jack leant forward so sharply that Lilly thought he might fall out of the chair.</p><p>They'd been expecting all sorts of reactions from Jack Portmaine but this wasn't one they'd anticipated. Still, they had seen many acts over the years and when you had rehearsed for such a scenario as being questioned by the police, a good criminal could sell any reaction.</p><p>"You remember him then?" Will said.</p><p>"God, never likely to forget." Jack slumped back into his chair again and ran his palm over his face. "I couldn't believe it when I walked in and..."</p><p>Lilly glanced at Will and raised her eyebrow, that wasn't in the file.</p><p>"Are you saying you found him?" Lilly asked.</p><p>Jack nodded, his thousand-yard stare piercing the wall above their heads. "Found him, got him down, and tried to resuscitate him. I suppose I knew it was probably pointless but I had to try..."</p><p>Lilly wondered whether all the suspicious thoughts that followed were just a natural side effect of the job. Had he made sure to destroy evidence, was he covering his back because he was involved, did he try to save him out of guilt...or was she letting the worst of what she had seen influence her and actually he was just a terrified young teacher trying to save a life?</p><p>"You didn't think he committed suicide?" Will asked gently.</p><p>Jack went to speak and then bobbed his head side to side in an uncertain kind of gesture. "I don't know. He might have physically gone through with the act, though I have my doubts there too, but I can tell you damn well that he was driven to it if he did."</p><p>The sharp bitter bite at the end of Jack's statement hung in the room and Will waited quietly for the man to gather himself and continue.</p><p>"There were things going on at that school. Awful things, I'm sure..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>March 5th 1968<br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>O.C. Smith - The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp<br/></em>
</p><p> </p><p>Jack stepped to one side to avoid being trampled by the two young boys haring along the corridor. He grinned when he realised it was Aubrey and Navjot, those boys were inseparable and always in some kind of mischief or another. Once they'd passed, Jack continued on his way to the fourth form common room. Usually full of students, he found just Bradley and one other boy inside. Bradley was apologising for something as the other boy mopped up tears with the bottom of his jumper.</p><p>"Everything alright, boys?" Jack asked.</p><p>Both boys jumped and the other boy — Jack struggled for his name — turned away, no doubt in a fruitless attempt to hide his tears.</p><p>"Fine, sir. Are you looking for me?" Bradley asked stiffly.</p><p>"Just to go over the English before you submit it," Jack confirmed, "If it's a bad time I can come back later."</p><p>"It's fine," Bradley slouched over to the door, cast one last guilty look back to the other boy, and followed Jack out.</p><p>"Your friend looks terribly upset," Jack said.</p><p>Bradley grunted in response, a dismissive gesture quite unlike his usual self. Jack bit his tongue, prying was unlikely to do him any good here. They made it to his office as the other teacher he shared the room with, Frederick Pope, was just leaving. </p><p>"Mr Clements, not in trouble I hope," Frederick stood up to his full height and peered down at Bradley. Bradley went stiff and his shoulders scrunched up in a rigid shrug.</p><p>"Just going over his submission to the competition," Jack said, not wanting Bradley to react sullenly and get himself into trouble.</p><p>"Ah, of course." Frederick did something peculiar then. He picked up the wooden ruler from his desk and ran it along the top of the desk, still looking at Bradley. "Focusing on academia can keep boys out of all sorts of trouble. Keep it up."</p><p>Frederick pulled the ruler tight against his body with a sharp motion and Bradley flinched. With a nod to Jack, Frederick strode out of the office, and Jack didn't miss the fact that Bradley shied back away from the teacher as he passed. Jack ran a question around his mouth and nearly put it into spoken word before shaking his head and deciding to wait a little longer before asking.</p><p>"Sit down," Jack said, gesturing to a chair and then to the fruit bowl on his desk, "take an orange or apple if you like, they'll go bad otherwise."</p><p>Hesitantly, Bradley chose an apple and took small bites out of it, watching Jack carefully as though expecting a follow-up to his offer. Jack gave him a reassuring smile — at least he hoped it was reassuring, Bradley's stony expression didn't give him any feedback to determine if it was or not — and sat down on the opposite side of the desk and took Bradley's essay from his drawer.</p><p>"Right, so just one or two wording changes and I think this essay is in for a good chance..." Jack went through the essay with Bradley and as they made the small changes he felt would benefit the writing, Bradley relaxed a little and began to reply more animatedly to the questions Jack put to him.</p><p>"I'll send it off today." Jack put the papers inside the folder and closed it. "You've got a good understanding of prose, my boy, you'll go far with it if you want."</p><p>"Maybe." Some of the sullenness was coming back and Jack knew if he wanted any answers, he would need to ask his questions now and carefully.</p><p>"Is there something I could do to help with Mr Pope?" Jack asked, going for a vague question that hopefully wouldn't scare Bradley into retreating behind his shell again.</p><p>Bradley bowed his head and turned the apple core in his hand around and around. "Not unless you can see him let go, sir."</p><p>Jack waited for Bradley to expand but he didn't. Instead the boy got to his feet. "Are we done then, sir?"</p><p>"We are, unless there's something else you want to talk about?" Jack asked and when Bradley shook his head silently, Jack continued. "Then no. We'll learn about your essay around about the beginning of May, I think. It'll seem like a long time to wait. Anyway, take another bit of fruit if you like and I'll see you in class."</p><p>Bradley reached for an orange and then he scrutinised Jack. "How much will this cost me?"</p><p>"Cost? The apples are from my sister's yard and the oranges are because whenever she goes shopping my mother seems to forget that all her children who ate them moved out," Jack said, his grin growing broad, "I'm the closest one to offload them to."</p><p>Bradley gave him a bewildered look and Jack wondered if he were perhaps out of line mentioning his family to a student. He cleared his throat.</p><p>"They cost me nothing, I'm hardly going to charge you for them," Jack said.</p><p>Eventually, Bradley slowly took an orange and thanked Jack, then scurried out of the office as though he were scared that the teacher would change his mind.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"I was so bloody naive, I still cringe thinking that he was asking if he needed to give me money for them," Jack groaned. He looked as though he had aged ten years in the time he had talked about how he knew Bradley so well.</p><p>"What did he mean?" Lilly asked, though she had a heavy weight growing in her stomach over what she suspected it was.</p><p>"I don't know for certain, not such that I could prove it," Jack said, "I would have made someone believe me if I'd had proof. The only one thing I can point to for sure is something Terrance — that was the boy crying when I found Bradley that day — said once, after Bradley died. He saw Audrey, a younger boy, with a chocolate bar and he said to him, 'Hope Pope didn't give you that. He'll be wanting payment either with the ruler or on your knees', and I knew... I just knew..."</p><p>The flippancy of such a comment coming from a student made Lilly think of other abused young people she had met over the years, where the dark humour formed a shield against the outside world and against what was happening to you. "Do you remember Terrance's surname?"</p><p>"McIntyre. Terrance McIntyre." Jack looked deflated but Lilly knew they needed to push on.</p><p>"Did you ever find out why he was crying that day?"</p><p>Jack shook his head. "Sorry, I have to admit I forgot about it at the time. I was more concerned with Bradley's increasingly out-of-character behaviour."</p><p>Lilly took the opening to begin her next line of questioning.</p><p>"A witness saw you arguing with Bradley two weeks before he died, in the dorms. They felt that there was something beyond the teacher-student relationship occurring," Lilly broached the topic carefully. If Jack had been abusing Bradley, she might not coax out a confession with a head on accusation.</p><p>"God, I forgot. Yes, you're right," Jack said, "Bradley dropped out of extra coaching sessions with me. Wanted me to withdraw his essay from the competition as well but I couldn't, of course, it was too late for that. He said he didn't care about English or his 'supposed gift for writing' and I just knew something serious had happened. I tried to get him to change his mind."</p><p>"Our witness said that Bradley said something about the other teachers talking about you in front of the boys?" Will asked.</p><p>Jack scoffed and shook his head with a sigh. "They felt I was defective. My father committed suicide, you see, when I was barely a teenager myself and I spent some time in a mental institute due to depression. The other teachers found out, Lord knows how, and they never let me forget how shameful they thought that was. Once they started talking openly about it, I lost the respect of most of the students too. I was happy to leave by the end of the year, between that and Bradley's death..."</p><p>Mindful that the man was getting increasingly upset, Will thanked Jack for his time and handed over both of their cards and asked him to call if he thought of anything else. Jack's eyes were softened with tears as he walked them to the door and waved them off, murmuring something about having a look in the boxes in the attic in case something jogged his memory.</p><p>Will and Lilly were quiet for the first few minutes of the drive back to Homicide. It was Lilly who asked first. "First impressions?"</p><p>"If he did anything to that child, he's the best actor I've ever met," Will said immediately, "We got to check him out, see if rumours have followed him anywhere else but right now, I don't think he's our man."</p><p>"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." Lilly turned and looked out the window. "Wonder if Frederick Pope or any of the other teachers from the time are still around..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly sat back and tapped her fingers against the tabletop. Frederick Pope had died of a heart attack in March 1999, just two months after Tobias Lehmann had drowned in the Schuykill. That sort of thing was often a coincidence but Lilly couldn't help wonder whether Pope had played some role in Tobias's death too and the stress of guilt played some contributing role in Pope's heart attack. That, of course, would be assuming that Pope felt guilt over his involvement.</p><p>"Lil? You got a visitor," Nick Vera tapped her desk as he walked past, "two, actually."</p><p>Lilly looked up and smiled in greeting at Navjot Chadha. She didn't recognise the man stood beside, a white man who appeared similar in age to Navjot. She walked over. "Mr Chadha, it's good to see you again."</p><p>"I hope it's not too pushy, I just wondered whether you might have found something?" Navjot asked. "Decided if you would be re-opening the case?"</p><p>"Let's go into the kitchen and sit down," Lilly said, directing the men to follow her into the sparse Homicide kitchen facilities.</p><p>Lilly started the coffee machine, hoping it would produce coffee and not the condensed sludge it occasionally put out, and turned back. Navjot was speaking softly to the man he was with, perhaps persuading him of something, and then sat up straighter.</p><p>"My apologies," he said, "this is Aubrey Saint-Michael, we were friends at St. Benedict's."</p><p>"I used to get an awful lot of stick for my name," Aubrey stood up and held out his hand to Lilly. She took his hand and shook it in greeting, reiterating her name even though Navjot had likely explained who she was.</p><p>"Because of the school name?" Lilly asked, taking the first coffee from the machine and putting a second on. It looked like coffee so she placed it on the table. Navjot passed it to Aubrey and then held his hand up to signal he wouldn't want one.</p><p>"Because of the ridiculous idea of me being a saint," Aubrey grinned and for a split second, Lilly could see the remnants of a cheeky and self-assured twelve-year-old beaming out, "I was always in some kind of trouble. Dragged Navjot into it as well more often than not."</p><p>"I didn't need much dragging to cause trouble in some classes," Navjot admitted with his own grin.</p><p>Lilly carried the second cup of coffee over for herself and sat down. "I will be re-opening the case. Alongside examining another case involving the school."</p><p>"The boy who drowned in the Schuykill?" Navjot asked, leaning forward.</p><p>Lilly nodded but didn't say more than that. "We've spoken to a few staff at the school. One mentioned a young man called Terrance? Terrance McIntyre? Did either of you know him?"</p><p>Navjot tented his hands and tapped his fingers against his lips as he thought. "It sounds familiar... I think he may have been an older boy. I'm sorry, I can't remember."</p><p>"That's alright," Lilly said. She had been watching Aubrey's face the whole time she had been talking and at the mention of Terrance's name, he went stiff and paled slightly. Navjot may not remember Terrance but Aubrey certainly did.</p><p>"You were there longer than me, do you remember him?" Navjot turned to Aubrey.</p><p>"I, uh," — Aubrey took a sip of coffee to buy himself some time — "I think he was on the lacrosse team. Yes, yes he was. I can't say I knew him well though."</p><p>"You stayed on at the school?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Only half a year longer than Navjot, then my family went through some financial difficulties. Schools like St. Benedicts don't make allowances for those sorts of bumps in payment," Aubrey said, a tinge of bitterness — understandable given all they had learnt so far about the school — coating his words.</p><p>"Thank you," Lilly said, "I really can't say any more now but once I can, I'll call you."</p><p>Lilly said goodbye to both men and walked them to the door. Will was returning from an interview with another teacher and shook his head when Lilly caught his eye.</p><p>"Waste of time, barely had a few months overlap with Jack and praised the ground Pope walked on. Only lasted a year at the school as well. Did find out that they have a high staff turnover. Higher than I'd expect from a fancy school like that," Will said as they walked back to the desks.</p><p>"Places like that usually try to keep hold of their staff," Lilly agreed. "Any more interviews set-up?"</p><p>"One coming here, looks a bit more promising. Worked in the same department as Pope and was there for the entire time Jack was as well." Will put the file down on the desk. "You think it's about time we let Bradley's mother know we're re-opening the case?"</p><p>Lilly sighed. She'd been dreading the moment someone reminded her that she couldn't keep putting it off. "Yeah, it wasn't a suicide. She deserves to know. What time's that teacher coming in?"</p><p>"Half an hour," Will said, then glanced past Lilly's shoulder and nodded in greeting to someone.</p><p>"Where are we on the St. Benedict's case?" Stillman asked.</p><p>"Something wrong going on at that school boss, maybe even now," Lilly said after she gave him the quick run-down. "I'm just going out to inform Bradley's mother that we're re-opening her son's case."</p><p>"Five minutes. I'll come with," Stillman said and before Lilly could say otherwise, he had walked back towards his office. Will went off to get ready for his interview.</p><p>Stillman returned a few minutes later and Lilly walked in silence until they reached Stillman's car. "Any reason you wanted to come out for this boss?"</p><p>Stillman smiled to himself and got settled into the driver's seat and started the car before he answered. "Something I've been meaning to talk to you about."</p><p>Lilly waited patiently while Stillman pulled out onto the main road, the man never did like to talk while he was doing any kind of manoeuvre. Once they were heading North in steady traffic, Stillman spoke again.</p><p>"I'm thinking about putting in for one of the open Deputy Commissioner spots once they open up. It's been suggested I give it a go and I think I could make more changes that way."</p><p>Lilly wasn't sure what she had been expecting but it hadn't been that. The thought of John Stillman leaving Homicide before retirement forced him out had simply never occurred to her.</p><p>"I..." Lilly glanced at Stillman and saw the steely determination in his face. "Couldn't think of anyone better to take one of the roles." As she said those words, she realised how true they were. These past few years had shown the many faults and flaws in the system, even within Homicide, and Stillman might have been the one thing making sure that they didn't fall down the same twisted rabbit-hole that so many other departments had. It was why he sat on them so hard and called them out when they stepped outside the line.</p><p>"If I get it, I'll be recommending you to take over Homicide."</p><p>"Boss?" Lilly asked, not sure she had heard right.</p><p>"You heard me. If I get one of these Deputy Commissioner roles, I'm putting your name forward to be my successor. I want to know Homicide is in good hands. It's why I'm pushing you so hard to get your head on straight and sort through the mess that's started to build up these past few years," Stillman said firmly. "Will's stepping down to part-time and he's asked that he step aside as my second as well. Wants to spend more time with his family and people that are important to him, and he's damn well earned it. I was hoping you'd step in as my second, give me a chance to train you."</p><p>Lilly sat back in her chair and stared out the front window, her mind still trying to catch up with all the information she had just had dumped on her.</p><p>Stillman smiled to himself again. "You don't need to answer just yet. But do me a favour and think about it." With that, he leant across and put the radio on, filling the stunned silence of the car with the gentle tones of a song Lilly didn't recognise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a short update this time to get me back into the swing of my long-fics after a combination of 12 Days of Christmas and frantic job-hunting. Hopefully back on a more regular update schedule soon.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly closed her eyes as soon as the door to the house closed behind her and took a few deep breaths in and out. There were parts of the job that everyone hated, no matter how long they had been with the force. If you asked most detectives, they would say it was the notifications that hurt the most. When it came to cold cases, people usually knew or at least suspected — if a body had never been found — that their loved one had passed so there was rarely a formal notification needed. In the place of the notification came the times when Lilly had to tell someone she was looking into their loved one's case again.</p><p>Sometimes it was the family who brought the case to them but just as often, it was something or someone else. Reactions varied. Sometimes the family were relieved that someone was taking another look, sometimes they wanted nothing to do with it, some demanded that they leave the case well alone, and sometimes...</p><p>Sometimes they reacted how Mrs. Clement did and their sorrow of so many years or decades past just erupted into the now. The heartbroken wail that fell from Mrs. Clement's lips would stay with Lilly for as long as she lived.</p><p>"Never easy," Stillman said, giving Lilly a gentle pat on the shoulder and gesturing for her to head towards the car.</p><p>Stillman had been as good as his word and hadn't insisted that Lilly talk about his proposal and when the conversation moved to the next steps Lilly had planned, she realised that he didn't intend to bring it up again for a good long time. She was okay with that. She needed to talk it over with someone before she even began to figure out how she felt about it. After that, the car ride back was much like the car ride out. Stillman headed out to grab a coffee and Lilly went back up to Homicide.</p><p>Lilly could tell from the look on Will's face that he had found something. "What is it?"</p><p>"Don't go getting your hopes up," Will warned her, though it was a bit late for that. "The guy was weasly and desperate to get out of here, no doubt 'cuz he didn't say anything for so many years, but he eventually talked about how the other teachers had a rule. You didn't walk down the corridor that Pope's office was on between half-six and half-seven every Tuesday and Thursday. Tried to act like he didn't know why it was but he knew..."</p><p>"Common knowledge secret," Lilly said, "and if all the teachers knew, might be that there aren't too many around from back in sixty-nine but could still be staff from ninety-nine."</p><p>"My thoughts exactly, how's about we take a drive up that way? Seems like the sort of appointment we shouldn't give them time to prepare for," Will said grimly.</p><p>"Agreed."</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>As Will pulled up to the car park, it was like driving into a different world entirely. Will muttered to himself as the guard on the gate sauntered over. "The money in this goddamn place."</p><p>"Appointment?" The guard asked.</p><p>Lilly and Will held up their badges and waited without saying anything. The guard hesitated. Without an actual verbal answer, he clearly wasn't sure how exactly to argue no. He looked around, as though hoping that someone else was about to sweep in and make the decision for him. When no such figure arrived, he reached over and pressed the button to allow them entry. He started to say something but Will pulled up his window and drove forward as soon as there was space between the gates to get through.</p><p>Lilly glanced in the rear-view mirror. "He's already figured that he's made a mistake. My guess, we'll have a welcoming committee on arrival. Probably an on-site lawyer."</p><p>"Too much goddamn money," Will reiterated, pulling into an empty space in the parking lot.</p><p>They didn't even make it past the first step leading up to the entrance before the doors opened and four men stepped out and began walking down towards them.</p><p>One man, heading up the group, started to speak, "Officers—"</p><p>"Detectives," Lilly corrected immediately.</p><p>The man was knocked off the pace from what was no doubt a pre-prepared statement and he fumbled to restart. "Of course. Detectives, it really isn't the done thing to just turn up at a place like this."</p><p>"My experience, places that say that to us usually have something to hide," Will said. It wasn't true, of course, both Lilly and Will knew there were many reasons why their unexpected arrival might cause disruption for people but something told them both that in this instance, Will's words weren't far from the truth.</p><p>On came the gleaming smiles with such synchronisation that it was bordering on creepy. Another man spoke, "Not at all, we're more than happy to cooperate with any investigation but you must understand—"</p><p>"Great, we're investigating the deaths of two students who attended school here. We don't imagine that anyone is still here from the first death but we'd like to speak to teachers who were here in ninety-nine," Lilly ploughed onward, fully expecting push back but deciding to get her words out before they were shut down.</p><p>There was a flicker. A pause. Then three of the men looked at the fourth, who so far had said nothing. He cleared his throat and stepped forward. Lilly was quite certain that they'd found the lawyer.</p><p>"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the man said, "if it's imperative that you speak to people, then it must be done by appointment and with each staff member accompanied by a lawyer. You shan't be able to speak to anyone today."</p><p>"Is that so," Lilly said, keeping her focus on the man as intensely as she could, trying to see something in his expression. Did any of these men know what was going on at this school, did they <em>all</em> know?</p><p>"I'm terribly sorry you drove all the way out here, you really should have called ahead and saved yourselves the time," the man said, and there was a flicker of a smirk.</p><p>Lilly took a step closer. "Oh, don't worry about us. We've learned plenty from this visit. We usually find that we do when we come face-to-face with accomplices. Even when they're not as cooperative as they claim they'll be."</p><p>With that, and before any of the men could respond, Lilly turned on her heel. "I think we've got exactly what we needed."</p><p>Lilly and Will could practically feel the glares on their backs as they walked back to the car and Lilly thanked the skies that she had summoned up the bluffing skills of a poker pro. They didn't say anything to one another until they had driven off of school property.</p><p>"They know." Will clenched his hands around the steering wheel for a second. "You could see it on their faces. They know..."</p><p>"Real cooperative weren't they?" Lilly said. "No point scheduling those interviews, the lawyers won't let them say a damn thing except no comment, you can see it now."</p><p>"Now, maybe it's just me," Will spoke slowly, considering his words carefully, "and maybe I'm just believing too much in there being good people in this world, but I figure at least some folks who worked there must have found out what was happening, couldn't be bought off, and tried to speak out. But since we haven't heard any scandals around the school, makes you wonder what kept them so quiet."</p><p>"School like that, lots of power, how would you discredit someone who might go making accusations?" Lilly asked, half to herself. "Fire them in disgrace? Make your own accusations..."</p><p>"That's what I'm thinking. Wouldn't be anything involving harming the students because that would bring too much scrutiny," Will said, "but something like theft or drugs might be enough to get a bit of jail time, ruin a career, and keep someone quiet, if only because the whole damn world would think it was bitterness for being fired."</p><p>"That's where we'll start then."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning: Verbal and physical abuse, implied sexual abuse. The more direct writing on this can be avoided by skipping the flashback section (there is a header of 'Present Day' you can use to jump to). Please note there are non-explicit references to past abuse mentioned in the rest of the text.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Hey."</p><p>Lilly looked up from the screen and winced at the tug in the muscles of her neck and shoulders. Too long spent hunched over. Scotty stood at the end of her desk, twisting the lid on and off the bottle in his hand. Lilly returned the short greeting and waited for the follow-up.</p><p>"Heard that you and Will might've uncovered something serious over at that fancy boarding school..." Scotty said eventually.</p><p>"Looking that way. Not found the specifics yet but there's enough."</p><p>"You going after the school?" Scotty asked.</p><p>"That's the plan," Lilly said. She didn't mean to be vague or unhelpful but she didn't know what it was Scotty wanted. She found she didn't these days and she wasn't sure when it had all changed. After Kitchener's murder? After the whispers had started about Scotty setting up a prisoner to—</p><p>"If the boss agrees, you want an extra pair of hands? Will said you were trying to find ex-staff who might talk," Scotty asked.</p><p>Lilly hadn't been expecting that either. "I...sure. Yeah. If the boss gives it the okay. You know how he's been recently."</p><p>Scotty nodded and headed over to Stillman's office. Lilly watched him put his head around the door and say something to Stillman, who nodded and said something back. Looked like they had an extra pair of hands. The phone at Lilly's desk rang while Scotty was on his way back and she turned her computer screen and notebook towards him so he could see where she was up to while she took the call.</p><p>"Rush."</p><p>"Detective Rush, it's Aubrey Saint-Michael."</p><p>Now that was a call she <em>had</em> half been expecting. Ever since the uneasy look on Aubrey's face, Lilly knew he had more to say on the matter than he had let on in the interview. "Mr. Saint-Michael, how can I help?"</p><p>There was a hesitant pause. "Call me Aubrey, please."</p><p>"Alright, Aubrey. I got the feeling there was something you wanted to say earlier," Lilly pressed gently.</p><p>After another pause, Aubrey sighed heavily and spoke, "I couldn't. Not with Navjot there. I know Terrance better than I said. Not back then but now I mean."</p><p>Lilly wasn't quite sure where he was going so just left quiet for Aubrey to continue. Aubrey made a few hesitant attempts to speak before gaining some momentum. "We met a few years, maybe five years back. At a support group for people who...who..."</p><p>"Who went through what you both did," Lilly supplied delicately once the silence went on for long enough that she knew Aubrey couldn't say the words, not yet.</p><p>"Yeah..." Another heavy sigh. "Pope, he... what he did to us, he did to other boys and we just...we never told."</p><p>"You were only kids, it wasn't — <em>isn't </em>— your fault," Lilly said.</p><p>"If we'd said something maybe that other boy you referred to..."</p><p>"I'd like to tell you that you'd have been believed back then Aubrey but the truth is, a school like that? They silenced even the adults who knew," Lilly said, hoping that she'd chosen the right words.</p><p>Aubrey laughed bitterly. "You're not wrong about that."</p><p>More silence followed and Lilly wondered if there was something more she should say. Before she could decide, Aubrey spoke again.</p><p>"I'm going to ask Terrance if he'll speak to you, about what happened. Pope's long gone but he sure wasn't the only bastard in that place involved," Aubrey said. "You think it'll help if I give a statement?"</p><p>"It could, if that's something you're ready to do," Lilly said, though she knew that it would be swiftly met with excuses and claims from the school that the establishment of the sixties was a very different place to the school now. Still, it could help and it sounded like it would help Aubrey.</p><p>"You said that they silenced staff?" Aubrey asked, his voice a little thick and gruff.</p><p>"That's what we're looking into now," Lilly said.</p><p>"Mr. Portmaine, that was why he left, wasn't it?" Aubrey asked, then immediately continued. "You really want to know what goes on in a place like that? Talk to the staff members that the teachers think they're too damn good to interact with. They always know more than anyone ever realises. I suppose I better let you get on then..."</p><p>"It took a lot to call me, Aubrey, it couldn't have been easy. I appreciate it," Lilly said.</p><p>"You know, it actually feels a bit lighter in a way. Just saying it," Aubrey said, "I guess that means something. Damned if I know what. I'll speak to Terrance."</p><p>Lilly thanked him and hung up. The awful weight in her stomach felt even heavier as she turned back to face Scotty, it seemed every which way they turned with cases these days there was corruption and adults abusing their power. Aubrey's words toyed at the back of her mind. Not so much the ones about the staff, she'd already compiled gardeners, cleaners, cooks, and other non-teaching staff into a list. The reference to Mr. Portmaine combined with that list was what was making the cogs turn.</p><p>"Jack Portmaine, the teacher who suspected something was going on was driven away from the school because of the stigma of him having been in an institution for a time, mental health reasons..." Lilly said.</p><p>Scotty caught onto her line of thinking — seven years working together put you on the same sort of wave-length — and began some new searches with new parameters while Lilly compared the findings to their list.</p><p>"Here..." Scotty tapped the screen with the end of his pen. "William Coates, handyman. He was let go after the school made a report about him displaying "unstable behaviour" and taking drugs. Had some drug problems since and been in and out of puzzle—" Scotty glanced at Lilly and self-corrected— "mental health institutes a few times." Stillman must have been having words about the language they all used as well. Much as Lilly might not want to examine the words and phrases that police chose, she knew that she too had been guilty of thinking — if not always voicing — less than sensitive turns of phrase. The Bubley family and the way her old partner had talked about them would forever be burned into Lilly's conscience.</p><p>No humans involved. That way of thinking made her blood chill and her stomach turn. But guys like Fulcrum didn't start out saying crap like that so openly and without shame. They sure may have had those thoughts all along but the environment, the force, made them confident that they could talk like that out loud and not be challenged... Stillman was right. A team that was starting to slip on standards was a problem.</p><p>"Lil?"</p><p>Lilly looked up sharply, wondering how long she'd sunk into her thoughts. "Yeah, this guy looks promising. You want to come along?"</p><p>Scotty ran his tongue over his bottom lip quickly and shook his head. "I got something I need to take care of this evening..."</p><p>Lilly glanced at the clock, shocked to see it was late afternoon already. Had she even stopped for lunch? She couldn't remember eating.</p><p>"Lose track of the day again?" Scotty grinned.</p><p>"Something like that. I gotta get packed up and go meet Frannie for a lift. Will and I'll drop by Coates tomorrow," Lilly said, scribbling down the address. "Hey...tomorrow, you mind looking into the cops who followed up on Coates?"</p><p>"Sure, the enemy within. Got it," Scotty said, "night, Lil."</p><p>As Scotty snatched his jacket from his chair and made for the elevator, Lilly tried again to place what it was that wasn't quite right between them. By the time she had packed up and gone down to the lobby to meet Frannie, she had given up. She never had had much luck deciphering the way people behaved outside of the restraints of her investigations. One of the department therapists had suggested it was trauma that kept her from being able to relate without the firm rules of her job. She didn't much like to examine that either.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>"Chris? I'm home," Lilly called, shutting the front door behind herself.</p><p>"Are you..." Christina poked her head around from inside the kitchen and made a show of shock looking at the time. "Could this be? Two days in a row back at a reasonable time? Here for <em>dinner</em>?"</p><p>Lilly batted her sister gently with the back of her hand. "I said I would try. I did forget to eat lunch though. I think..."</p><p>"I suppose it's progress," Christina said, "lay the table would you and I'll serve up."</p><p>They set up the table and served up dinner in comfortable silence. Lilly listened to Christina tell her about how Isabella had been during the day and about how she was thinking of going out to the park tomorrow. Lilly hadn't missed the fact that Chris didn't roam far from Lilly's home. Seems both of them had more than enough trauma between them...</p><p>"So, how was work?" Christina asked once she was finished.</p><p>"It was..." Lilly stopped herself from throwing out the usual <em>'fine'</em> that she fobbed people off with and changed her mind. "Even cold cases are harder when it involves child abuse."</p><p>"And you don't think this is all truly in the past, do you?" Christina asked. Lilly wondered what in the little she had spoken of the case would have led Christina to that conclusion but she had to admit that her sister was truly not far off the mark.</p><p>"No." Lilly reached for her glass of water, then took a sip. "I'm starting to think that with places like that, the corruption has seeped into all parts of the place."</p><p>If Christina suspected that Lilly was talking about more than just the boarding school — and from the concerned look she shot in Lilly's direction, she suspected she did — she chose not to say anything, instead announcing that she had also bought a dessert to go with dinner and the conversation moved on from work.</p><p>Lilly managed just over three hours sleep before the gnawing thoughts woke her from unpleasant dreams and she settled down with a book that she only managed a page or two of before giving up. After that came the pacing until she wondered whether her footsteps would wake Christina or Isabella, upon which she retreated back to bed where no more sleep came. When her alarm finally went off, Lilly was more exhausted than when she had put her head on the pillow the previous night. Something that didn't go without comment from Christina.</p><p>"It's more than just the case, isn't it?" Christina asked, pushing a cup of coffee across the work surface to Lilly. "Do you want to talk about it?"</p><p>Lilly shook her head. "I'm still..." She trailed off, not sure what she was still doing. Trying to figure things out in her own head before she could ask anyone else to go through them with her.</p><p>"Scotty mentioned that you were approached by the FBI for a job, is it about that?"</p><p>Lilly looked up sharply, wondering when that conversation had taken place. Scotty had certainly made comments — some sharper than others — about the possibility of Lilly leaving homicide to go to the FBI, but she hadn't thought for a moment that he would have discussed it with her sister.</p><p>"No, it's not that," Lilly said. To her relief, her phone rang twice and hung off, leaving Frannie's name and number hovering on the screen for a split second. "I've got to go, once I've got it worked out, we'll talk about it. I promise."</p><p>She tried to ignore the fact that it felt like she was running away as she closed the door behind her.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>"You look like hell," Will said once they were in the car.</p><p>Lilly couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, just what I wanted to hear."</p><p>"Don't make it any less true the fact that you don't want to hear it," Will said with a warm chuckle, "been having nightmares again?"</p><p>"No, just can't shake some thoughts I suppose," Lilly said vaguely, opening the passenger window and leaning her arm on the door.</p><p>Will was quiet for a few minutes, driving in his usual steady manner, the sort of driving that drove Scotty and Vera mad but that Lilly had gotten used to, grown to appreciate, over the years. Eventually, as she thought he might, Will spoke again. "Seems to me, you've been preoccupied since the Byrne case. Seeing corruption run so deep, bound to get you all caught up."</p><p>Lilly raised an eyebrow in Will's direction but he ignored that and the look she shot him. Sometimes he really was too damn perceptive for, well, perhaps not his own good, but definitely for other people's good. "That's a specific guess there..." Lilly said.</p><p>"That's 'cause it's been on my mind too, part the reason I've gone part-time. Somethings are just too heavy for us to keep hold of. I know it's been on John's mind too," Will explained. "Got more than a few of us wondering, at what point do we stop saying it's a few bad apples and accept that the rot is deep?"</p><p>"Something like that..."</p><p>They continued the car drive in quiet, neither of them even feeling like putting on the radio.</p><p>"Well, this is the last known for Coates," Will said, pulling up near an apartment block with paint flaking from the walls and a front door with one smashed out window. "I'm thinking our man Coates maybe didn't break out of the cycle that this school pushed him into."</p><p>They made their way up to number 73, neither wanting to chance the elevator, and knocked on the door. There was a thud inside then the sound of footsteps dragging over to the door. The door opened a crack and the face of a white man in his late forties or early fifties with a mop of greying hair peeked through the gap.</p><p>"Detectives Rush, Jeffries, Philly homicide." Lilly held up her ID as she spoke. "Are you William Coates?"</p><p>"Yeah, why?" William's eyes narrowed.</p><p>"We're looking into a cold case, deaths that happened at St Benedict's boarding school and wondered if you might be able to fill in some gaps for us?" Lilly asked.</p><p>William snorted. "Right, the police are here to hear my side of the story. Pull the other one."</p><p>Lilly shared a look with Will before turning back to William. "We understand you left the school in nineteen-ninety-eight?"</p><p>"Left?" William barked out a laugh. "Sure, call it that."</p><p>"Could we come in?" Will asked.</p><p>"Hell, why not?" William undid the latch and opened the door. "What more can you all do to me anyway?"</p><p>Lilly and Will followed William into the living room. Spartan was an understatement and with there being only one armchair available, they stood.</p><p>"So, go on, what's this really about?" William asked, wincing as he sat down in the armchair and stretched out one leg.</p><p>"You were at St. Benedict's from..." Lilly prompted.</p><p>William sighed. "Fine, from ninety-seven until ninety-eight. Lasted just over a year. Why?"</p><p>"You would have been there at the same time as a teacher called Frederick Pope?" Lilly asked.</p><p>William's whole demeanour changed and he sat up straighter, glanced between them and scrutinised them before speaking. "You really are looking into what was going on, aren't you?"</p><p>"Frederick Pope?" Lilly asked again.</p><p>"Frederick Pope was an evil son-of-a-bitch who should have been locked up years before I even got there," William said, "and when anyone tried to go and speak out about him, they sure found themselves on the receiving end of a boatload of shit."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Will asked.</p><p>"Everyone knew what him and some of the others were doing to those boys but that school protected them..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>April 30th 1998</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode</em>
</p><p> </p><p>William Coates sighed as one of the older boys — a prefect who should have damn well known better — deliberately knocked over William's bucket, which was half-filled with dirty water, and soaked the corridor that he had just spent the past ten minutes cleaning.</p><p>"Coates! What is the meaning of this?" And of course, it would be at that moment that asshole Pope would arrive.</p><p>"Accident with the water bucket, getting on with cleaning it," William muttered.</p><p>"See that you do just that," Pope said, then his attention moved past William to the prefect who had created the mess. "Mr Forden, my office."</p><p>William smirked and glanced over at the prefect, thinking that, for once, there might be some consequences for the way the kids messed with him. His smirk faded away when he saw the wide-eyed fear on the prefect's face.</p><p>"Since I was the one who knocked over the bucket I thought you'd...that I would be..." The prefect stammered and looked over at William, desperately pleading with his eyes for William to back him up. </p><p>William couldn't do anything other than try to do exactly that, the fear was so tangible. "I was just saying to young master Forden that it would be the decent thing to do."</p><p>"Nonsense. You get paid to clean up. Forden. With me, now." Pope snapped again and William tried again.</p><p>"Couldn't he just—"</p><p>"When you have a teaching qualification, Mr Coates, I will deign to listen to what you have to say, but as you do not, I suggest you get on with cleaning up this mess." And with that, Pope strode over and grabbed the student by the arm and and dragged him off down the corridor.</p><p>William watched them go for a second then began mopping up. He couldn't get the fear on that young man's face out of his mind though and after a few minutes, leant his mop up against the wall and went after them. As he reached the door to Pope's office, he could hear the student begging. "Please, please don't."</p><p>William didn't stop to think — his own teachers, years back, had written in his reports often enough that impulsiveness was a trait of his — and he turned the handle on the door. When he found it locked, he took his shoulder to it. Once, twice, and it flew open.</p><p>Frederick Pope recoiled from the student at the presence of William and the student scrambled over to William. He was struggling to pull his trousers and underwear back up as he ran and tears streamed down his face.</p><p>"Alright, I got you," William said, guiding the student behind himself and standing between the boy and Pope. He turned his face to the teacher. "You're a fucking disgrace."</p><p>And with that he took the student out of the room, reassuring him that they would call the police and that this was over now.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Filthy animal," William said. "He wasn't the only one either, not that I had proof for the others. Still, lot a good my eyewitness testimony did. Your lot fucking rolled right over for that school."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"I kept my promise. Got that boy off of school grounds and I called the police. Copper came round and took my statement, took his statement, and then left. Really thought he was going to do something too, he seemed as pissed off as I was." William shifted again with a grunt of pain, reached for a small blanket on the arm of the chair, and pulled it over his lap. "That boy, Harrison was his name, called his parents to come and get him. Then the next bloody thing I know, I've got the police breaking down my door the next day with all sorts of charges. Kidnapping a minor, drug abuse, theft... They sure ended up with a lot of witness statements saying folks saw me doing something I never did."</p><p>William shook his head and looked away towards the window, his eyes growing misty at the memory. "Didn't have a goddamn drug problem until I got thrown in jail for that bullshit. Sure as hell left with one though."</p><p>Lilly had been feeling steadily more nauseated the more William spoke and she had to take a minute to compose herself before speaking. William smiled sadly at her.</p><p>"You know, the officer who came to take our statements, his face looked as horrified as yours does now. I really thought he was gonna help, so forgive me if I don't put much stock that you're gonna do any better than him," William said.</p><p>"Do you remember his name?" Lilly asked gently.</p><p>"I still got his bloody card," William said. He pulled out his wallet and took out a ratty old business card and handed it to Lilly. "Never could figure out why I kept it. Maybe this is why, universe is funny like that my old mum used to say."</p><p>Lilly took the card and read it. The name, Detective Benjamin Murray, wasn't familiar to her so she carefully put it into an evidence bag and handed it to Will. He read it and nodded to signal he did. </p><p>"Just one last question," Lilly said. William nodded so she continued. "You remember a student called Tobias Lehmann from St. Benedicts?"</p><p>"I'm sorry." William shook his head. "Truthfully, I knew them better by how they looked than their names."</p><p>Will held out the school photograph of Tobias they had found from an old news report about his death. William peered at it and nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, I remember him. He was one of the few boys who said spoke to me. Nothing much, you know, just good morning, good afternoon, please and thank you. Polite, like. In that place, not too many folks were polite to me. I figured out a few years back that those kids probably treated me like shit 'cos that was how they took back some power, you know..."</p><p>"Thank you for your time, Mr Coates," Lilly said. She hesitated, then added. "And I'm sorry for everything the school and the police did to you."</p><p>William shrugged. "If you actually mean that, maybe you'll actually do something about it. You'll see yourselves out?"</p><p>Will and Lilly left William's flat in silence and didn't speak until they'd gone down two flights of stairs.</p><p>"I didn't know Murray well but his son's a patrol now," Will said, "heard Murray went into a retirement home with extra care for Alzheimers few years back."</p><p>"Maybe we start with his son, see if he knows anything about why his father let a child abuse case slide..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly and Will didn't even make it to their seats before Scotty intercepted them with Kat close behind him. "Got something real interesting."</p><p>"Go on," Lilly leant against the nearest desk.</p><p>"The detective who arrested Coates died a few years back, so I struck out there, but I found another name involved in the case and Kat tells me that you two already had a run in with him..." Scotty handed over a printout relating to Coates' arrest and charges.</p><p>Lilly read down the page and the sinking feeling that had grown steadily lower on the drive back from Coates' place was replaced with a flash of anger. She looked up at Kat who had the same anger across her face.</p><p>"Fucking Reginald Mannings," Kat confirmed.</p><p>"Christ..." Lilly dropped her hand to her side and breathed out slowly. "Two cases involving dodgy cover-ups? No way that's just chance."</p><p>"William Coates caught one of the teachers abusing one of the boys at the school," Will explained. "Took him off school grounds and called the police, ended up in jail for his efforts."</p><p>Lilly looked back at the arrest sheet. "They dropped the kidnapping charge, suppose they figured they wouldn't get that one to stick. I gotta take this to the boss, especially now Mannings name is back."</p><p>"I'll get on looking up Murray's kid, see where he landed," Will said.</p><p>Lilly walked over to Stillman's office, he waved her in as he saw her approaching.</p><p>"Hey boss, familiar name cropped up in our investigation. Reginald Mannings." Lilly went on to explain what they learned from Coates and reminded him about Mannings role in the Byrne case, not that she thought Stillman really needed reminding.</p><p>Stillman sat back in his chair and steepled his hands as he thought. "There was proof abuse was going on in that school and the police helped the school cover it up."</p><p>"Looking that way," Lilly said.</p><p>Stillman's jaw clenched and squared for a moment then he looked up. "You spoken to the Lehmanns yet?"</p><p>"Not yet, it..." Lilly sighed. "I just wanted more before I told them. It could have been suicide, trying to get away from Pope and everyone else involved in that school."</p><p>"Hell of a thing to tell a parent who might have come to accept it being an accident," Stillman agreed. "Any closer to finding out what happened with Bradley?"</p><p>"Not yet, witnesses from back then are a bit trickier to get hold of than from around ninety-nine" Lilly admitted, "but Aubrey, a friend of the man who brought up the case again, confirmed that Pope and others were abusing children at the school. He wants to make some kind of statement and knows someone else who might want to talk."</p><p>"Alright." Stillman got up and went over to the door. "Come on, think with it being nearly lunch you and Will could do with a coffee, don't you think?"</p><p>Lilly gave Will a quick nod and he followed them out. Stillman was vehement they did not discuss the case further until they had reached the café, bought their coffee, and were back outside, hands wrapped around warm takeaway cups.</p><p>"I've been keeping this under wraps but with another case involving a cover-up, couldn't wait any longer," Stillman said. "We have a leak in the department. Started on the Byrne case, maybe before."</p><p>"How do you know?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"When you and Miller went to interview Merrywings, I got a phone call from a deputy commissioner suggesting I call you two off," Stillman said, then smiled tightly, "obviously I didn't do that. Earlier, I had the captain on the phone, demanding to know why two of my detectives were causing trouble for St. Benedicts and investigating ex-staff."</p><p>"Dammit, John, you're not..." Will sighed and took a long drink of his coffee. "That why the others aren't here on this coffee trip?"</p><p>"No." Lilly said firmly, catching onto Will's meaning. "They wouldn't."</p><p>"I'm not going there exactly, hear me out," Stillman said, "but the six of us were the only ones I thought knew about you two investigating ex-staff at St. Benedict's. I don't think someone else is running off telling the higher-ups about the case but let me ask you. Either of you spoken to anyone outside of us, Vera, Valens, and Miller about this case?"</p><p>Lilly shook her head, she'd even been vague with Christina about it. Will indicated in the negative as well.</p><p>"You think they've mentioned it in passing to someone else?" Will asked.</p><p>"Probably someone who works in the building. Someone none of us might think twice about talking to. Could be a detective, a patrol, forensics..." Stillman said. "Someone is digging for information and they've found a way to get to someone about it. Become a trusted ear."</p><p><em>'Or a drinking buddy', </em>Lilly thought of Vera and his recent downward spiral involving the bottle. A person's tongue could be well and truly loosened by alcohol and Vera would be easy to press for information in that state. Lilly had thought he'd been doing better but perhaps...</p><p>"You keep asking us to step outside whenever we talk about this though," Lilly said, "that's not to avoid the other three knowing. We could do that in your office."</p><p>John smiled wryly. "That might be paranoia on my behalf, got visions of spy cameras and computers being bugged. Probably not the case but...after Doherty, gets a man wondering."</p><p>"Well, given what we found out today, you could be getting a whole load more phone calls soon," Will said.</p><p>"Counting on it," Stillman said.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>"Do you think the boss is right?" Lilly asked. They had driven out to the beat that Kadeem Murray, Benjamin's son, worked and were walking around the area to see if they could find him. After the meeting with Stillman, both of them had been a little bit on edge about making contact with Kadeem's precinct house and potentially putting the patrol officer in someone's crosshairs. They hadn't worked out how they'd get around his patrol partner.</p><p>"I dunno. John's been on edge for weeks, all this corruption we found only made that worse," Will said, "but his reasoning makes sense. If we were the only six that knew, then someone had to have told someone else. No way I believe that one of us is feeding information to the higher-ups. That Kadeem over there, isn't it?"</p><p>Lilly looked over to where Will nodded and saw a Black patrol officer, maybe in his mid-twenties, walking in the opposite direction to them on the other side of the road. He didn't seem to have a partner with him. They changed course and approached him. Kadeem sensed them coming, glanced quickly, then turned to face them before they reached him.</p><p>"Not every day two homicide detectives stroll up to you," Kadeem said, "figure there's a reason?"</p><p>"Detective Rush and Jeffries. Are you Kadeem Murray? Son of Benjamin Murray?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Yes..." Kadeem looked between them cautiously. "Why?"</p><p>"We're investigating a cold case and your father's name came up," Will said, "and I knew of your old man, heard about him and the Alzheimers, so we weren't sure going to see him was the right thing. For him or us."</p><p>Kadeem's expression softened just a little. "He has good days and bad days, something upsets him and we get a lot of bad days. Appreciate you not just going to see him without talking to me."</p><p>"Could we talk and walk?" Lilly asked. "Where's your partner?"</p><p>Kadeem's face hardened again. "I usually don't get partnered these days. Always seem to be the man left-over. So we can talk. What do you want to know?"</p><p>"Back in ninety-eight, your father took statements from a staff member and a student from a boarding school about abuse but the case never went anywhere, did he ever say anything about that to you?" Lilly asked.</p><p>Kadeem looked around at her sharply and raised his eyebrows. "The fancy boarding school, that's the case you're investigating? He never said anyone died."</p><p>"They didn't in the case he was involved in but there were two boys at two different times," Lilly explained. "We think the abuse may have played a part in both deaths. Can you tell us why your father didn't pursue the case?"</p><p>Kadeem ran his palm over his chin, a faint five o'clock shadow was forming, then nodded that they walk down off the main road into a quieter side road. Once they had walked a ways down, he spoke again, "I don't think my father dropped that case. I think it was taken from him and buried."</p><p>"You think?" Lilly pressed gently.</p><p>"Yeah, he never said much when... before he became ill. I mean, when it happened I was just a kid so he wouldn't have said then. He mentioned having regrets about an abuse case involving St. Benedict's when I was at the academy but he's also said a few things since he got ill. When he's having a bad day," Kadeem said.</p><p>"Like?" Will asked.</p><p>"He keeps asking if the cover up at the fancy school's made the news or if anyone ever went back to protect the kids at that school. Saw the school on the news once for an event they were running and told me that they'd gotten away with murder. I never thought he meant the last one literally," Kadeem explained.</p><p>Lilly's mind was already making connections. "Did your father known Erroll Coleman, the medical examiner?"</p><p>"Sure, well enough that I'd met him a few times before joining the force. Why?" Kadeem asked.</p><p>"I think your father was referencing Tobias Lehmann, one of our victims..." Lilly wasn't sure what exactly they could do with any of this.</p><p>"Say..." Kadeem said. "My father kept a diary of sorts. Not his police notes but a way of sorting out his head after bad days at work. I could dig 'em out, bring them down to you at homicide? Maybe there's something there around ninety-eight, ninety-nine?"</p><p>Lilly was about to agree when Will gently touched her elbow and interrupted. "Yes on the diary, but let's not meet at homicide. You got somewhere that works for you?"</p><p>Kadeem eyed Will carefully then nodded. "This got something to do with all the changes at the top level, all those rumours about how bad things have got up top?"</p><p>"Something like that," Lilly said vaguely, though she admired Kadeem's quick mind. "Let's just say, better for your career prospects if you don't get seen helping us."</p><p>Kadeem laughed — a deep, rich sound — and shook his head. "Don't think my career prospects are good anyway. Passed the detective's exam for the second time this year, still a patrol."</p><p>Lilly frowned and almost asked why but stopped herself, getting a good idea why.</p><p>Kadeem smiled back at her sadly. "I get the feeling higher-ups didn't appreciate my father asking questions about a cover-up. Always seems to be something. But you're not here about my sob story. You know the café just down from the corner of Cumberland and Eleventh? Say we meet there tomorrow morning, half eight?"</p><p>"Works for us. See you there," Will said and they let Kadeem get back onto his patrol.</p><p>"It's just rotten all the way to the roots, isn't it?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Starting to look that way," Will agreed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>When drafting this fix, I had some parts that were slightly different to each other in terms of timelines and minor details. I noticed that there were some discontinuities in years when I merged parts together which may have caused confusion. I think I've caught these all now and corrected them.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning: Implied abuse against a minor, implied pedophilia. The more overt writing (NB: This is still non-explicit) on this can be avoided by skipping the flashback section (there is a header of 'Present Day' you can use to jump to). Please note there are non-explicit references to past abuse mentioned in the rest of the text.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lilly waved goodbye to Christina and Isabella and set off on the drive to work. She found she missed traveling in with Frannie and the conversation they had shared. It reminded Lilly that, at least in terms of socialising, she had been very much limited to interacting with the rest of the team and hadn't even spoken at much length to any of the others who worked in the building, even when she did get on with them like she did Frannie. Perhaps that too was another symptom of the system and how teams began to hide failings in-house to the detriment of the people they were meant to serve, if you only ever got the perspectives of those immediately around you, no-one was there to challenge your world-view...</p><p>Lilly shook her head and turned the radio on to give herself some background noise. It was important she thought about those things, she knew that, but given her recent lack of sleep and tendency to become lost in those thoughts, doing so whilst driving was perhaps not the most prudent of decisions.</p><p>Arriving early enough that she managed to grab some on-street parking, Lilly paid the parking metre and made her way to the cafe on the corner of Cumberland and Eleventh. Kadeem was already inside nursing a cup of coffee and she raised one hand in greeting before making her way up to the counter and ordering. She ordered for Will as well, hoping that he wouldn't be far behind her, then went over to join Kadeem.</p><p>"Found them," Kadeem said, patting the stack of notebooks beside himself, "I never really sat down and read them before...some interesting stuff in there."</p><p>The way he said interesting told Lilly there was a definite undertone of sinister to the word. The same sort of sinister that had led to police captains overseeing witness executions and covering up child abuse scandals in boarding schools. Rotten from the leaves to the roots, corroding from the inside out.</p><p>"I get the feeling that if I keep reading, I might start to question whether I even want to stick around," Kadeem said. Will arrived just as he finished speaking and took up the coffee gratefully.</p><p>"Looks like your search went well," Will said.</p><p>"I was just saying to..." Kadeem hesitated. "Sorry, I never asked whether you preferred to go by Lilly or Rush?"</p><p>"Rush is fine," Lilly said.</p><p>"I was saying to Rush that there are some interesting things in them but doesn't do much for your confidence in the system," Kadeem said. "There are a few entries about St. Benedicts. I think it really haunted him..." Kadeem pushed the notebooks across the table. "If I could get them back?"</p><p>"Course, we'll copy what we need and return them once the case is closed," Will said. </p><p>"You're confident," Kadeem said.</p><p>"Not really. Just seen what this one," — Will gestured to Lilly — "can get done when she gets hold of a case that'll ruffle feathers."</p><p>Lilly cleared her throat, touched by the compliment. "We'll put it as right as we can."</p><p>"I better get out on patrol," Kadeem said. They said their goodbyes and went separate ways.</p><p>"You drive here?" Lilly asked and when Will shook his head, she led the way to where she was parked up.</p><p>"You know, we're getting deeper into this wider picture here," Lilly said slowly, "which we need to do but we've got to circle back round to Bradley too before we get too far off track. We've got the evidence that someone killed him. Are we thinking that was Pope?"</p><p>"Sure could have been but could also have been someone else at the school, could have been more than one man terrorising those kids," Will said. "And we know what he was doing got covered up by the school for decades so others were involved somewhere along the line."</p><p>"Did Pope have any relatives?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Yeah, a sister," Will said, clambering into the passenger seat, "lemme give Vera a call, ask him to get the address off the system."</p><p>Lilly laughed. "Call Stillman or Kat, Vera probably isn't out of bed yet."</p><p>"Truth enough," Will agreed, a sad sigh on the cusp of his voice. He took his phone out and dialed a number. Lilly started the car while she waited.</p><p>"Hey, Kat, are you in the office yet?" Will asked. "Do me a favor? Search for Frederick Pope's sister, I think she's still in Philly. Yeah, that's right. Uh-huh. Thanks." Will hung up and put his seatbelt on. "She lives up Oak Lane way, down from the fire station, you know the area?"</p><p>Lilly nodded. Time to see what the sister had to tell them...</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Both Lilly and Will knew there was something to be learnt from the way Sylvia Rhodes hardened her face at their introductions, stepped aside and said, "You had better come on in."</p><p>Sylvia cleared away some soft toys from the sofa and waved for them to sit down. "My grandkids, they're out right now with my husband. Probably for the best if you're here to talk about Frederick."</p><p>"What makes you say that, Mrs. Rhodes?" Lilly asked.</p><p>Sylvia made a small gesture with her hand. "Sylvia, please. Formality won't make any of this easier. Let's just say, there was a good reason I never let Frederick around my own kids, even when we lived in the same city."</p><p>Lilly breathed in sharply at how quickly Sylvia had gotten to the point. "You knew what he was doing?"</p><p>"Knew in the way people just sometimes <em>know</em>," Sylvia said, "but never had enough to go to anyone and say anything. Lord, maybe that's just an excuse...I don't know. I tried once, you know. Said to the Headmaster at that school that I was worried about the way Frederick talked about some of the boys. He just said I was being hysterical."</p><p>"Why don't you tell us what made you so sure?" Will suggested gently.</p><p>"I was pregnant at the time..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>May 15th 1968<br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>When the Wind Arises - The Rokes<br/></em>
</p><p> </p><p>Sylvia stopped to catch her breath on her way back from the kitchen. She grimaced as the baby decided to change position and it felt as though they were doing a little dance as they wiggled around.</p><p>"Everything okay, sweetheart?" Melvin, her husband, asked as he came through to get some more glasses for drinks.</p><p>"Just..." Sylvia breathed in sharply and leant against the kitchen counter.</p><p>"Why don't you go sit down for a bit in the front room, you've done so much today, I'll get Andrew to help me put the rest out," Melvin said, pressing a kiss to Sylvia's temple. Sylvia agreed and made her way through to the living room. Her older brother, Frederick was examing the photographs of her and Melvin from their honeymoon. He had been behaving so peculiarly the past month or so and Sylvia wished she had known he was there, something about his dark moods scared Sylvia and reminded her of how cruel and biting he could be when they were children.</p><p>"Not long now." Frederick turned around and eyed her coolly, as though he were scrutinising her.</p><p>"If I knew the exact date, I'd be counting down believe me," Sylvia said, offering a gentle chuckle along with her words to lighten the mood.</p><p>Frederick nodded and looked past Sylvia to the window overlooking the garden. His eyes got that steely intense look that scared her so much these days. Sylvia followed his gaze to where Melvin's sister and her family were arriving, the twin boys running up to Melvin with excited yells.</p><p>"They grow up so quickly," Frederick said.</p><p>Sylvia stifled a shiver. It was such a normal thing to say, people said things like it all the time. So why did it make Sylvia's blood run cold when her own brother said things like that.</p><p>"How's work?" Sylvia asked, to distract herself from the unease.</p><p>"Why?" Frederick demanded.</p><p>"Oh, it's nothing, I just..." Sylvia floundered for something else to say. "You've been quiet recently, I thought maybe work might be stressful."</p><p>"It's always stressful," Frederick said, "keeping those boys in line, trying to mould them into decent men that will serve society properly... A thankless task. You show them all the attention they need, give them your time and so often they're ungrateful. People don't realise that, you know. These people who talk about how we're too hard on them, those soft types who complain about corporal punishment... They don't know anything."</p><p>Sylvia couldn't think what else to say and she offered a feeble smile. Frederick didn't see it though, just continued to stare out of the window at Melvin's nephews. "They'll be old enough for boarding school soon. Best thing a mother can do is send her boys off."</p><p>Sylvia was so relieved when Annabelle, Melvin's sister, breezed into the living room with a gasp and a greeting, sympathising with Sylvia about the final month of pregnancy. Frederick turned away with a sneer and made his way outside. Sylvia wanted to tell Annabelle to keep an eye on Frederick around her sons but couldn't find the words to explain why. What was she to say, after all, 'The way he talks about disciplining boys worries me? The way he looked at them made my skin crawl?'</p><p>So Sylvia decided she wouldn't say anything but made two promises to herself as she made her way outside to join the barbecue. Firstly that she would make sure Frederick wasn't left alone with the two boys all evening, and secondly that she would call the school first thing on Monday and speak to the headmaster...</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Like I said, the headmaster told me I was being hysterical and that my brother was an excellent teacher who disciplined the boys as they needed," Sylvia said. She shook her head.</p><p>"Did you ever have anything concrete? Anything at all?" Lilly pressed. "Did Frederick mention <em>anyone</em> else?"</p><p>"I'm sorry," Sylvia said, quickly dabbing at her eyes and straightening up again, "he simply didn't share that sort of thing with me. After my son was born, we almost never saw him, and I was glad for it."</p><p>Lilly's shoulders slumped just a little, another avenue explored full of supposition and suspicions but nothing they could use.</p><p>"What..." Sylvia pressed her lips together tightly for a moment. "What is it you think Frederick did? It must be serious to be looking into it so long after he died."</p><p>Lilly hesitated but eventually chose her words carefully. "There were two unexplained deaths connected to the school and Frederick's name came up during the investigation..."</p><p>"Oh good Lord." Sylvia pressed her hand to her mouth and stared in horror. A few seconds passed and then she seemed to gather herself and when she spoke, her voice only trembled a little. "After Frederick died... the school gave me a box of his belongings. I was his next of kin and they had no-one else to give it to. I didn't want it but I didn't know what to do with it so just shoved it at the back of the basement and never looked at it. Do...do you think it might be..."</p><p>"We'll take it and look," Lilly agreed immediately. Sylvia got up and rushed out of the room.</p><p>"There's a lot of people in this case carrying a lot of guilt," Will said.</p><p>"And all of them tried to do more than anyone at the school and none of them seem to feel guilty at all," Lilly added, "I think we might want to bring Doctor Hall in and see whether he's more forthcoming in an interview room."</p><p>They waited in silence after that, though it was only a few minutes before Sylvia returned, a little out of breath, and carrying a cardboard box.</p><p>"Here, take it. I don't want anything of his in this house," Sylvia said, pushing the box across the coffee table towards them.</p><p>"Thank you." Lilly grabbed the box and stood up. "And thank you, for your help."</p><p>Sylvia offered a pained smile in response and saw them to the door. As the door shut behind them, Lilly knew that they'd left another cloud over another household, like the darkness was seeping into every place they went.</p><p>"Let's get back and see whether any of Frederick's secrets got packed away in this box."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning: Child physical and sexual abuse, pedophilia, murder of a child. To skip the most explicit writing (which is non-graphic but more direct than other writing in the chapter) please skip the flashback section and jump to the next 'Present Day'. Non-explicit mentions of the topics appear throughout the chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>There was a wickedness to the photograph that Lilly swore she could feel the moment she touched it. She looked at the group of boys in the photograph — they looked to all be part of a sports team at St. Benedict's — then turned it over. There was an inscription on the back, <em>'Fred. Such a wonderful age. Here's to the next tournament. Ben.'</em></p><p>Lilly put the photograph down and rubbed her palms on her trousers, just about resisting the urge to get up and wash her hands. "We come across any Bens or Benjamins in the staff list that crossed over with Pope?"</p><p>"Not a Ben or Benjamin but there's a Benedict," Scotty said, rustling with the papers in front of him, "Benedict...Benedict...ah! Here it is, Benedict Worthing." Scotty leaned across the desk and held out the sheet of paper to Lilly so she could read it. Benedict Worthing had been at the school from 1966 to 1986 when he suddenly upped and left.</p><p>"He still alive?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Checking for you," Scotty said, already loading up the system.</p><p>Lilly returned to the box and shared a grim smile with Will. "Found anything?"</p><p>"Maybe," Will said, holding out a diary, the last one Pope filled out before his death, to Lilly. "Remember how I said it was an unspoken rule that staff didn't go near Pope's office on Tuesday and Thursday evening? There are a few days in October, November, and December where Pope has 'Appointment with Dalton' on those days, now there is an Oliver Dalton who still works at the school now who would have been about the right age to be a trainee teacher in ninety-eight, ninety-nine. Could be nothing..."</p><p>"Could be an accomplice..." Lilly agreed. "I want to talk to Hall about him too, see if we can't get anything more solid to present Dalton with..."</p><p>"Worthing is still around, lives up in a retirement community in North Philly," Scotty added.</p><p>Lilly turned in her chair and called over to Stillman. "Boss? We borrow Scotty and Kat for a few hours?"</p><p>Stillman looked at the whiteboard for a few seconds then gave a single sharp nod. Vera wasn't in. Work mandated therapy which he wasn't happy about but Stillman had been immovable on the matter. </p><p>Lilly turned back to the others. "Can you two go and see Worthing, Will and I are planning a more in-depth chat with the school doctor."</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>"Don't seem right, does it?" Scotty asked. "Guy like this getting to relax here after what he did."</p><p>"Bad people get away with stuff all the time," Kat said, "never gets easier."</p><p>"Kinda gets you to thinking that maybe guys like Mitch Hathaway had the right idea," Scotty said, ringing the bell and waiting for someone to arrive.</p><p>Kat frowned as she tried to recall how she knew that name. In the meantime, the receptionist returned.</p><p>"Hey, we called an hour or so ago, Detectives Valens and Miller to see Benedict Worthing?" Scotty asked.</p><p>After fussing over them signing in, the receptionist gave them directions and sent them on their way. By then, Kat had placed the name.</p><p>"You aren't seriously suggesting that people should start throwing criminals off buildings?" Kat asked.</p><p>Scotty shrugged. "Dealt with the problem, didn't it?"</p><p>"Oh sure, until someone gets falsely accused or there's a case of mistaken identity and an innocent person gets killed," Kat said.</p><p>"That happens anyway, doesn't it?" Scotty asked, then before Kat could say anything else he stopped at a door. "This is it." He knocked sharply then immediately opened the door.</p><p>The elderly man sat on the bed jolted and clutched at his duvet cover. "Who are you? What do you want?"</p><p>"Philly homicide, Mr. Worthing," Kat said, showing her badge, frowning when Scotty didn't do the same. "Here to ask you a few questions—"</p><p>"About the kids you were interfering with back in the day when you worked at St. Benedict's," Scotty interrupted, walking up to Worthing's bed and crowding him. "Remember that?"</p><p>"I‐I didn't—"</p><p>"We know you did so skip the song and dance about how your innocent and tell us what you know about Bradley Clements," Scotty said, yanking the duvet from the old man's hands.</p><p>Worthing just stared at them, sunken eyes terrified as his gaze flickered between them. "M-my memory isn't so good these days," Worthing offered feebly. Disgusted pity made a nasty taste stick in Kat's throat. Worthing seemed so pathetic, sitting on the bed and staring at them.</p><p>"How about we try and jog your memory," Scotty suggested, leaning in and gripping Worthing's wrist.</p><p>"Scotty," Kat said sharply, raising her eyebrow at Scotty who let go of Worthing and stepped back. "Mr. Worthing, we know what you were doing with Frederick Pope at that school," — which was kind of true, they strongly suspected — "so what we want to know is what really happened to Bradley Clements. We know it wasn't suicide."</p><p>Worthing reached for his duvet again, curling fingers that were practically skin and bone around the edge and dragging it onto his lap. "It wasn't supposed to happen, not of that was. That poor boy..."</p><p>"Don't act as though you had no part in his misery," Scotty said.</p><p>"You don't understand. We were good to them, they were treated well, <em>rewarded!</em>" Worthing said. Kat shook her head and pressed her lips together to compose herself before asking her next question.</p><p>"Tell me what happened to Bradley..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>April 3rd 1968</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Mental Traveler — David Axelrod</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Benedict Worthing had just poured himself a glass of brandy when the door to his room flew open and Frederick Pope charged in.</p><p>"He fought back," Frederick said, struggling to catch his breath. "I've locked the door to my office but we need to be quick. That loon Portmaine has been turning up at all hours, I'm sure he suspects something."</p><p>Benedict set down his glass and got to his feet. "What do you mean he fought back? You've hurt a boy?"</p><p>"That bloody Clements boy!"</p><p>Benedict threw back his brandy and pursed his lips. "I thought we agreed that Clements was to be left alone, that he was becoming difficult to control?"</p><p>Frederick didn't reply, just waved for Benedict to follow him. He did. He didn't need Frederick to reply, for he knew why Frederick had returned to Bradley Clements, against specific instruction. Frederick took great pleasure in breaking the spirit of a boy and if Bradley's spirit were strengthening once more, Frederick could not resist crushing it.</p><p>They hurried through the school, pausing at the sound of footsteps and letting other members of staff and older students pass unseen. Frederick unlocked his room and opened the door. Benedict had not been prepared for what was inside.</p><p>Bradley Clements lay slumped over the desk. His clothes in disarray and his eyes open, staring directly at the two men as they entered. </p><p>"You've..." Benedict could only gape. Fury and terror coursed through him. That fool Frederick had doomed them all.</p><p>"I told you, he fought back," Frederick said, "we need to get rid of him."</p><p>"We?" Benedict demanded.</p><p>Frederick got up in Benedict's face and lowered his voice. "We. Because I have lots to prove just who else is involved in all of this."</p><p>Benedict swallowed heavily, the panic of self-preservation taking hold. He took a step closer and swallowed heavily.</p><p>"There's some rope in the utility cupboard. We'll move him to the shower room..."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Present Day</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Kat and Scotty turned away as Worthing wept, both quite sure that the tears were for himself and himself alone. None would be shed for Bradley, not by this man. It was clear the man couldn't be moved under his own strength and they would need to discuss with Bell what they did next. For now, they'd station an officer at his room.</p><p>"Read him his rights. Cuff him to the bed," Kat said to Scotty. "I'll go call the boss. Best we have eyes on him as soon as possible, there's a lot of medication around here a man could take..."</p><p>"You saying that's a problem?" Scotty asked.</p><p>Kat glanced at Worthing and then grabbed Scotty's arm and dragged him outside of the room, positioning herself so she could keep an eye on the old man as she spoke. "What the hell, Scotty?"</p><p>Scotty shrugged off her hold and adjusted his suit jacket, though despite the bravado he did look a little guilty. "Don't tell me you think this guy sticking around would be for the best for everyone?"</p><p>"I think he might have a whole load of victims who might want the chance to see some justice served or that he might point us towards other people who might still be hurting kids," Kat said firmly.</p><p>Scotty sniffed and nodded reluctantly. "Alright, alright... you gotta point. I just...guys like that, people who go after kids like that..."</p><p>"I know," Kat said gently, relieved to see some of the Scotty she knew coming back. "I get it, I do but it's not just about seeing this one guy punished. He might not be able to go out and hurt people these days but other people might still be out there doing just that and if there's a chance he can point us towards some of those people..."</p><p>"I get it. You're right, I lost my cool. Won't happen again," Scotty said. "You watch him, I'll put the call into the boss, alright?"</p><p>Kat agreed and Scotty walked a ways down the corridor to make the phone call while Kat returned into the room to silently wait with Worthing.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Lilly's phone buzzed in her pocket and she quickly reached down to press the button to silence it. It was probably Kat or Scotty letting her know they'd spoken to Worthing.</p><p>"So, Mr Hall?" Will asked again.</p><p>The doctor squirmed in his chair and clasped his hands together as he desperately avoided looking anywhere but at the two detectives. Since reading him his rights and explaining why they had brought him back in, Bernard Hall had been twisting and turning physically and verbally to try and escape the answers they wanted.</p><p>"Come on, we know that anything like that, happening at a place like that would never get past the school doctor," Lilly said. "So we've already figured out that you covered up for them, probably have done for forty-five years. Now unless you were also involved in what Pope and the oth—"</p><p>"Never!" Hall slapped a hand down on the table and then shrunk back into his chair almost immediately. "I would never do such a thing..."</p><p>"Didn't care enough to speak up though, did you?" Lilly asked.</p><p>"Anyone who spoke up was gotten rid of, one way or another," Hall said, going back to looking anywhere but at the detectives. "Better they had a constant figure in their lives to see to their injuries."</p><p>Lilly shared a disgusted look with Will. "Whatever helps you sleep at night. Now, we know about Pope and Worthing. We want to know about others."</p><p>"I didn't keep a record of who was doing those sorts of things," Hall said. However could a man who had been so complicit in covering up the systematic abuse of children for nearly half a century be so put out over the possibility of knowing who the perpetrators were, Lilly would never understand. She guessed people sectioned things off in their head to justify the monstrosities they were involved in.</p><p>"You knew about Pope," she said.</p><p>Hall seemed to deflate a little. "Fine. I knew about him."</p><p>"Then I've got to figure, you knew about others," Will said.</p><p>Hall squirmed, shrinking even more into the chair as though he hoped he might disappear from sight. "I might have heard rumours."</p><p>"Then I suggest you start to tell us about some of those rumours," Lilly said, flipping open her notepad.</p><p>Hall eventually gave them five names, though they both suspected he knew there were more but was trying to minimise his involvement in the cover-up. Lilly tapped the notepad, Oliver Dalton's name was there, offered without any need for them to bring it up. "Which of these are still there?"</p><p>Hall looked across the table, eyes watering and unfocused. "Dalton and Joiner. The others retired years back."</p><p>Lilly stood up and glanced at Will. "I got a call while we were interviewing, you finish up here?" When Will nodded, she turned her back on the doctor and walked back out of the interview room. She offered Stillman a sharp nod across the room and leant back against the wall behind her to gather her thoughts before calling Kat and Scotty back.</p>
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